The Siege Of Khartoum (part 1)
by menofwarhide
Summary: Alistravia receives a distress call from a distant segmentem under assault from a Xenos invasion force but when it's discovered the vile creatures have begun an invasion of the whole imperium Alistravia must hold the line and prevent the last system from falling. cut off with little support while her brothers tackle the larger invasion she must make some questionable choices.


Path of exile:the siege of Khartoum.

Prologue

"Why now!" Alistravia exclaimed

"because it is only fair I make the imperium's case to your brothers" The emperor replied

They were stood in an old conference room that had not been used since the founding, the arbiter stood between the two in silence waiting for the emperor and his daughter to finish their exchange. The meeting had been called the previous day by the master of mankind himself and he had the moment he walked in stated he wished to tell a tale to support Alistravia staying, she did not oppose the tale only the timing.

"Father I expected you to make a case for voting against me but not until I had finished giving my reasons"

"I do agree with Lady Alistravia sire, perhaps it would be better to wait until the last few days" The arbiter said finally being able to get a few words in

The emperor nodded.

"I was planning to wait until then but this tale may take several days and if I am allowed to do this now I will allow the counsel to be extended for as many days, I do not ask for much arbiter only that you allow me this one thing"

"If the lady agrees I will allow it"

Alistravia studied her father for a moment, he had a reason for doing this now but she couldn't figure out why. She could refuse his request and force him to wait but so far she had only addressed three of her brothers idiosyncrasies and still had time to work on persuading the rest, If her father did this at the end of the counsel he could undo all the work she had done previous.

"very well, I agree to this"

Counsel

The chamber was quiet, Alistravia was not the one stood at the speaking podium now, no it was the emperor himself. He stood as a mighty presence as he should, everyone had gone to one knee and he took a moment before speaking.

"you may all be seated"

The chamber filled with shuffling as everyone took their seats, Alistravia was sat at her plinth as her brothers had when she spoke.

"Since this counsel will be long I have decided to make the imperium's case for my daughter remaining now rather than wait till the last days"

A light lit up on a podium, it was Sanguinius.

"Do we get to make our cases as to why she should stay?"

"If you wish anything to be said there will be a chance given to all primarchs before the vote" The Lord arbiter stated and Sanguinius nodded and stood down

"Well then" The emperor stated "if there are no other questions I will begin"

The Siege of Khartoum: part 1

Segmentum cirrus

On the southern fringe of the imperium far beyond Terra lay a little know area made up of a small cluster of systems known as Segmentum cirrus. Straddling an area know as the veiled sector and close to a great arm of the galaxy this small group of planets colonized by man before the great cataclysm had somewhat prospered due to the high amounts of concentrated gas pockets found in the cirrus nebulae that drifted across the whole sector. So when an imperial fleet showed up looking to reunite the colony's no shots were fired or troops deployed. The citizens welcomed reunification with the rest of the imperium as trade boomed and the area became the richest sector outside the core systems.

The segmentum contained three systems that were spaced some distance apart but were linked by the nebulae, during the age where warp travel was impossible the ships of the local system would spend years in space using the nebulae and it's gas streams to surf their way between the three systems to trade goods.

The system furthest out contained one habitable planet and it housed the storage platforms for the gas. It was harvested and collected here where vast processing stations on one of the moons readied it for transport deeper into the imperium where it was used as fuel for star-ships and other industries. The planet thrived off of the trade not just from the gas but the rouge traders who came looking for hidden treasures that may be locked away in the wrecks of old gas mining vessels.

The second system was home to a Mechanicum forge world. In the early days of reunification when the Mechanicum realized the usefulness of the gas to power their great forges they rushed to build themselves an outpost where they could do research that required vast amounts of the gas. There was also a small agri world that fed the local populations. Very few ships traded within this system as most were either Mechanicum vessels or small ships carrying food stuffs to be processed.

The third and final system that lay closest to the imperium had again only one habitable planet but it was one of the biggest known to man kind, much of it was mountains and oceans but on one vast continent lay a massive city tens of thousands of miles wide and the capitol building of the whole sector. Built when there was no contact with the imperium it was defended from all sides by unassailable mountains, it's only ingress point was a star-port and some agri-fields that lay at the far end of the vast city. With a population of sixty two million some of which were housed on the orbital defense ring, as it stood it was the lowest populated world in the imperium considering it's size.

A problem created by the nebulae however was one of communication. On the other side of the golden brown cloud lay the exposed southern flank of the imperium but the nebulae was so dense no communications even psychic could be transmitted so the Mechanicum had built a relay station inside the nebulae to solve this issue and it had but from day one of it's activation NX-145 the magus in charge of the station found himself getting reports of strange signals from the direction of the great galactic arm. However when a scout fleet entered the sector and found nothing but star systems devoid of life these signals were filed away as anomaly's and never given a second thought.

Thirty years later however things changed.

It started when a few gas mining vessels disappeared at the far edge of the nebulae, it was not unusual for an inexperienced gas miner to get lost in the vast nebulae or for them to accidentally explode a pocket of gas destroying the ship or killing it's crew so these disappearances were again filled away, that was until one ship came back.

"The enigma mortise" came back with a gaping hole in it's hull towards viands system. It's captain begged to speak to the Governor of viands straight away and when he was brought before him he told the tale of how his ship was harvesting a gas cloud on the far edge of the nebulae when hundreds of alien ships appeared. The mortise only having a limited laser battery and small missiles ran but was clipped by a las beam from an enemy vessel. Immediately the systems fleet was put to battle stations but they were woefully under prepared for what came from the nebulae, it wasn't just a few hundred ships. It was almost three thousand vessels shaped similarly to eggs that tore apart the defending imperial fleet and began landing troops.

The first thing NX-145 did was contact the capital system. The governor there was frantically panicking knowing even with all her ships and the system patrol fleet supplied by the imperium they stood no chance. The Mechanicum forge world refused to send reinforcements stating the forge world was a higher priority as it would likely be attacked next so the governor begged NX-145 to broadcast and SOS message for help to the rest of the imperium, he did just that...

Tiberius system

The second legion astartes fleet sat motionless against the back drop of a stellar cloud. The whale shaped super cruisers along with the similarly shaped battleships, frigates and corvettes were lifeless to look at from a distance as they rested in the system. They had been there for two weeks after they had chased an ork raiding fleet away from the core worlds close to Segmentum ultima. Here they had cornered the ork ships that had been unable to out run the the seconds stealth corvettes that perused it and were able to arrange for the bulk of the fleet to be waiting for them as they pulled into real space. Debris from the ork vessels still drifted throughout the system from their annihilation and now the second legion was simply harvesting the debris for useful scrap to fuel the experiments conducted aboard their ships.

Alistravia was sat in her quarters reading, she had not been interested in fighting the orks. The fleet had simply come across them as they attempted to assault an imperial world. Now there was nothing to do except wait for a request for assistance from another legion or sit and wait for new orders.

Carin came in to her quarters with purpose.

"mother I am bored"

She eyed him up and down. He was wearing the green and gold uniform and carrying the sword Fulgrim had given him. His face reflected that of his grandfather slightly but his bright traditional Estrellan yellow hair changed that look to be more like Kyros. He had elements of her, his eyes were the same color and he was stronger than most ordinary humans due to his inheritance of her genes. He had not developed in height much. He was taller than her by a small amount but his astartes brothers dwarfed him.

"I am sorry I can not make waiting for orders more interesting Carin but to be honest it's nice to have some downtime, I know you may see constant fighting as a interesting but sometimes it's nice to have a rest"

Carin stopped to look at one of the fish tanks as a little squid waltzed by, it stopped as if to look at the man on the other side of the glass then continued it's journey.

"it's not like I get to fight anyway"

"not this again, Carin those were orks and your not ready to face such a dangerous foe"

"says who"

"Says me... your mother" Alistravia said placing the book down on the table

Carin turned around with an annoyed look.

"I want to help mother that is all and ….." A beeping from the internal vox cut him off

Alistravia answered it.

"yes admiral?"

" _my lady we need you on the bridge we are reviving a relayed distress call for a distant star system"_

"on my way" She said standing "Carin we can talk about this later"

The bridge was quiet as Alistravia stepped on followed by her escort. Sankara and Kyros along with Gigas and the admiral were stood around the main hololith bellow the command throne.

"So this distress call?"

The admiral punched in a few runes and a transmission with no visual began to play.

" _This is NX-145, arch-magus of communication station VV-19AR. An unknown xenos species has begun an attack on Segmentum cirrus. Large number of vessels detected along with ground forces. Priority Primaris, currently there are not enough battle groups within the segmentum to counter threat, request immediate support from any and all imperial assets..._

"It simply repeats after that" the admiral said

"Has anyone else heard this transmission?" Alistravia asked

"unknown" Kyros responded "the message is very weak and the only reason we picked it up was likely due to our more advance sensor array"

Alistravia turned to Sankara.

"What do we know about that Segmentum?"

Sankara switched the hololith to a representation of the galaxy with imperial territory highlighted on it and pointed to the Segmentum in question.

"It is the primary source for Ferox gas supply on the southern edge of the imperium, a rather useful substance that is found in high quantities throughout most sectors of the imperium but the nebulae that fences off the segmentum with the rest of imperial territory is unusually rich with regenerating deposits and has become a major reason why the capitol world is so wealthy. The Mechanicum even built a forge world in the adjoining system to make use of the gas to fuel greater research"

"The biggest problem mother is that should a xenos species take the whole sector it puts them within striking distance of several systems with high populations. The southern flank would be exposed and as most legion fleets are currently active to the east it would be hard to stop them running amok" Kyros interjected whilst indicating the exposed areas

"Unless we stop them in the cirrus Segmentum" Gigas responded

Alistravia nodded.

"very well. Admiral send a response to the message acknowledging it and relay the message further into the imperium. Try to find one of my brothers as it sounds like we may need another legions assistance. How long will it take us to arrive?"

"Four days, it is quite the distance out" The admiral responded

"Then set a course now and bring all ships to battle readiness"

Khartoum system

The seconds fleet emerged from a wormhole close to the main planet, instantly defense satellites and the small fleet on defense of Khartoum turned to engage before the legions coded signals reached them informing them of friend not foe. Forty two imperial vessels sat in a defensive posture around the orbital ring that was used for repairing ships and trade as well planetary defense. It had thousands of las guns and torpedo launchers as well cannons normally found on emperor class star-ships for knocking out larger vessels. Understandably the fleet was using it as part of their strategy to defend the planet.

The one hundred and fifty ships of the sea devils fleet took position close to the ring with some of the corvettes of the fleet setting course to patrol the systems edge.

A vox signal from the surface was received shortly after and passed to bridge hololith. A middle aged woman with crimson hair and a weathered but pretty face appeared on one knee with her head bowed. Two Castellan battle robots stood at either side.

" _My lady welcome to Khartoum although I wish it could be under better circumstances. I am Ariel Hokes governor of this world"_

Alistravia had stood to face the holographic image of the Governor and eyed her and the droids closely.

"A pleasure governor, I agree the circumstances are not ideal but things are what they are. Myself and my senior officers will join you on the surface shortly"

" _I shall contact arch-magos Belinax and inform her of your arrival, she has been quite selfish in her attitude and refused to send us any assistance"_ Ariel responded

"The Mechanicum often are selfish but I will deal with that once I am with you"

The image of the governor nodded and the holo image dissipated. Alistravia turned to her senior commanders.

"Admiral deploy the fleet in a standard defensive formation until further notice and send a scout force to the first system attacked. Stealth recon only, no engagement"

Admiral marten saluted and moved off issuing orders. Alistravia turned to Gigas, Kyros and Sankara.

"The three of you will join me on the surface"

Governors citadel

The citadel was at the opposite end of the city to the space port and was built partially into the side of a mountain for aesthetics and defense. Thousands of people from maintenance workers to record keeping remembrances went back and forth through it's vast gates every day except now the gates had been closed and secured. The only people allowed in and out where the security forces. To the left of the citadel was the main barracks and airfield for the planetary defense force who were now on high alert. Fighters roared across the sky on patrol for any unauthorized craft on approach and troops marched throughout the streets. AA guns and tanks had been deployed along with all the reserves and altogether they numbered two hundred thousand active soldiers. Knights from the local house could also be seen stationed at key points throughout the city.

Alistravia watched a vendetta fly past as her storm bird cut through the rain down towards the citadel landing pad. AA guns tracked the approach but stayed silent as it touched down. Three figures stood waiting as the ramp to the drop ship opened. Alistravia was of course flanked by the maidens shield and behind them was Gigas with Sankara and Kyros to his left and right. They stopped as they reached the three figures awaiting them. The first figure in the center was governor Hokes who stood tall in her dress uniform. To her right an elderly man in military dress with a short sword at his side stood with his arms behind his back and then to her left stood a young bald woman with sockets in the back of her head. She had the symbol of knight house upon her orange and blue uniform and seamed on edge.

As Alistravia approached all three bowed before the governor stepped forward.

"Thank you for coming to our assistance my lady, may I introduce you to my uncle" She said indicating the man on the right "General Vladimir Hokes commander of the planetary defense force and this" she indicated the young woman on her right "Is knight commander Ramie Guam of house Guam"

The two bowed to Alistravia once more.

"A pleasure" Alistravia responded and then indicated her three officers "This is my first captain, Kyros. As well as his brother and my Chief of security Gigas"

Both space marines gave a curt nod.

"And this is my equerry and Chief Librarian, Sankara"

"It is an honor to meet you my lords, we should head inside. Arch-magos Belinax is awaiting us"

"lead on" Alistravia responded

They were escorted deeper into the main citadel, normally it would be filled with workers and those petitioning the governor or attending court but it had been evacuated of all non essential personal and instead a mixture of PDF soldiers and a limited number of skitarii patrolled the halls. Gigas kept a close watch on the Mechanicum constructs as they passed.

Eventually they came to a large room with the holographic image of two magos stood by a large round table. One had six arms each with a more outlandish tool. Her head was only part that made her identifiable as female from the long brown hair that had some how survived the cranial implants. The rest of her body was hidden under the blood red martian robe but was likely a mess of bionics and flesh.

The second magos was not identifiable as either gender and had no legs, it was sat in a cage that appeared to be suspended on some kind of platform but the holographic image was not clear enough to tell how it was suspended. The two magos were talking over the noosphere as the party entered the room.

The governor and her two companions took a position on the other side of the table while Alistravia and her group took position on the opposite side with the magos between them. The six warriors of the maidens shield spaced them selves out around the room.

"Once again I would like to thank you for coming to our aid my lady and ask how many other legions will be joining you?"

"none" Alistravia responded bluntly

The three humans looked panicked and confused.

"We assumed you were the vanguard for a larger force, if no one else is coming we can not win this fight" General Hokes said as he tried to control his panic

"The message broadcast by the relay station was not strong enough to reach deeper into the imperium thus only we received it" Sankara responded

" _I believe I may be able to transmit a greater message deeper into the imperium if more psyker's were added to the astropathic choir on Khartoum"_ NX-145 said as his image broke up a little

"We discussed this before and I will repeat what I said then. We can not just attach every psyker on the planet to the system, it will likely burn out the whole broadcast network and then we would have no communication at all!" The governor exclaimed

"True Governor but that may be the price we have to pay for calling reinforcements" Sankara said before turning to Alistravia "If the magos is right I believe I can prevent the system from burning out too quickly allowing us to call for help"

Alistravia nodded.

"Use whatever resources you need and inform me when you ready to transmit"

"yes mother" Sankara replied and left the room

"How many knights do we have deployed?" Kyros asked Ramie

"Six currently deployed, another three including my own are still arming but we are not used to fighting xenos. The most we deal with are the giant ape like creatures that roam the mountains and attack the mines on occasion"

"You will have to adapt" Alistravia responded "what is the status of current PDF and knight deployment?"

"I have deployed forces to key areas and knights are watching the main roads that run towards the citadel. If the enemy come they will likely try to take the star port as the mountains are mostly unassailable apart from by the knights or aircraft" The general said acting proud of his deployment skills "I have artillery stationed in the low hills with a small garrison guarding and tanks have been deployed at choke points"

Alistravia nodded in response.

"Very good. Kyros begin organizing company's. I want the orbital ring secured and any and all ships still docked made combat ready. Evacuate the civilians, we will use the mines as shelter for them. Gigas I want a run down of security systems and defensive satellites then redeploy them for optimal efficiency"

The brothers nodded.

" _what about the forge world?"_ Belinax screeched

"What about it?" Alistravia asked

" _what forces will be deployed to defend it?"_

"I will not be deploying any forces as it is my understanding you refused to send help here and the latest information update to the imperial archives tells me you have two titan houses at your command. It would be more efficient for you to send your forces here and we will retake the forge world once we have successfully defended Khartoum" Alistravia responded

" _That is unacceptable! we should have priority as servants of the Omnissiah"_

"I give you a choice magus, bring your forces here and assist me or stand on your own but I will not defend a forge world that refuses to help an ally, furthermore it is much easier for me to defend one world with an orbital ring that it is two worlds without and as you are primarily a forge world that focuses on research your priority status is low which I am sure you are aware of"

" _I will not abandon this world, I will defend it to the death"_ Belinax said defiantly

"That is your choice. What is the status of the agri world?"

"we have sent ships to start an evacuation but there are a lot of people and it could take days we don't have and there is no one to defend them should they be attacked" The governor responded

"Admiral" Alistravia voxed

" _yes my lady?"_

"Take the Ahab's rage and a small task force. You are to defend the evacuating colonists from the agri world in the Bolas system"

" _affirmative" was the response_

"I want regular updates and we will have another strategic meeting in three hours, is that acceptable?"

Everyone nodded or bowed their head to Alistravia.

"Good. As the only Primarch in the Segmentum I am here by assuming supreme command of all forces as is my right by imperial law. Governor Hokes do you have a place I can use as an base of operations?"

"My office is yours my lady"

"Thank you. General please assist Kyros with a layout of the city and your current deployments"

The general nodded.

"good, dismissed"

Viands system

The stealth corvette _"Marie Celeste"_ exited the miniature wormhole at the far end of the asteroid belt. It activated it's light bending shields making it invisible to all known non Estrellan sensor devices and began to maneuver it's way through the asteroid field towards the one habitable planet in the system like a small fish weaving it's way through a maze of coral. The ship was commanded by captain Rellan of the seventeenth. The rest of his company had been deployed to the surface of Khartoum but he had agreed to take a few squads and go with the stealth ships crew to help make an assessment of the enemy's ships and capabilities. Lieutenant koan was the human commander of the vessel and had happily stepped aside when Rellan had come aboard. He stood next to the space marine as they watched asteroids pass them by through the view port.

"Plenty of hiding places within this belt" he said as the vessel skimmed the edge of a large asteroid

"lets hope we don't get seen" came the gruff marines response

The little arrow headed vessel was shaped so as to reflect the arrow headed shark that swam in the Estrellan ocean. Like the little shark it was fast and maneuverable but it's weapons were limited to few las arrays and one torpedo bank. It did carry mines but on this occasion that payload had been left behind to reduce the wight of the ship.

"Thirty seconds till belts edge" the helms man shouted

"lets see what we have then" Captain Rellan said as the ship slowed down and stopped on the edge of the belt

In the distance in front of the planet were thousands of ships. Each egg shaped vessel had an almost smooth surface except for the weapon arrays and sensor modules. They drifted patiently as smaller vessels from the planet went back and forth between them but some of the vessels had moved away from the main fleet and appeared to be a separate battle group.

"Full scan" the lieutenant called

Behind them the hololith lit up with an image of the ships. Both Rellan and Koan viewed the data.

"They appear to have no view ports, they must work entirely on sensor feedback, but why"

"Curious thing that they have so many ships but not one has any identifiable mark as a main command vessel" Rellan responded

"A lot of shuttles going between some of the larger craft. They appear to be carrying troops down to the surface a few hundred at a time" The lieutenant said before focusing in on one of the troop carriers "I am running calculations but at an early estimate they could have over 200 million soldiers and that's not including tanks and other vehicles...That proves this is a large scale invasion"

Rellan zoomed out and scanned the power signature emitting from the vessels. Koan rubbed the stubble on his chin and pointed at some of the larger vessels.

"There's power build up in some of their ships..." Koan said pointing at the separate battle group "and these ships are smaller, is it possible they are using FTL drives?"

"That would explain the power build up and why the smaller vessels are almost ready to jump so have moved away from their comrades. If we assume the larger vessels are charging their engines but because of their size it takes longer then we should be able to predict how long it will take for their entire fleet to reach the next system" Rellan responded looking over the data

"I'll start running calc..." An alarm cut off the lieutenant's sentence as the sensorium officer called out

"Proximity alert, three small vessels on approach"

"have they seen us?" Rellan asked

"not yet" the lieutenant responded looking over the alarms data feed "but if we are correct that they rely entirely on sensor data our cloak could be useless

"agreed" Rellan said walking over to the command throne "helm take us back to the other-side of the belt"

"Aye sir" came the response

The ship carefully reversed and spun round a hundred and eighty degrees doing a slow burn of it's engines. They had gone a few thousand kilometers into the belt when the first shot was fired, it went wide of the ship then another went even wider.

The lieutenant studied the data as another shot, this time quite close came past.

"They know we are here but they can't fully see us, I have an idea captain if you will indulge me"

Rellan nodded.

"all stop" the lieutenant shouted and the vessel halted

The crew braced expecting the next shot to be on target but instead the three small egg shaped vessels flew past them sending out sensor scans left and right.

"They are blind, how did you work that out?" Rellan said

"As soon as we were moving they started shooting"

"so it was a guess"

"an educated one" the lieutenant replied looking over sensor data "the only issue we have now is if we try to escape we will be detected"

Rellan watched as the three enemy vessels separated and and began scanning separate asteroids.

"if we use minimal thrust we could sneak up and destroy each vessel one by one"

The lieutenant smiled.

"you and I should work together more often captain we make an excellent team"

The closest enemy ship was scanning a small spinning asteroid not far from where the corvette had stopped. A short burst from it's engines propelled it along. None of the enemy ships registered it and the corvette glided close enough until it was just behind the enemy ship.

"low level las beam, one shot then move away fast" Rellan said

"target lock obtained" the gunner replied

"fire!"

A small multicolored beam shot out from the front of the "Marie Celeste" tearing through the rear shields of the enemy vessel and destroying it. Instantly the corvette moved to swing around the asteroid as the enemy's two comrades came shooting over to find nothing remaining of their sister ship but debris. Rellan and the rest of the crew watched as the ships scanned and re scanned the area multiple times.

"Sensor officer are there any other enemy ships close by"

"No my Lord" he responded and Rellan turned to the lieutenant

"lets end this and get out of here before they start calling for help"

"agreed" he responded before addressing the crew "shields up, full power to the weapons"

The ship sprang to life and rose up from the other side of the asteroid, it vaporized one of the enemy vessels straight away whilst the other ran back towards it's bigger brethren but it couldn't evade the corvette for long and its engine was clipped sending it into a spin. An escaped pod left it as the vessel plummeted in a spiral into an asteroid.

"grab that pod and let's get out of here" Rellan said

The pod was quickly pulled into the little ships bay, then it sped off before any other enemy vessels picked it up.

Khartoum

Multiple companies had been brought down from the Ahab's rage and other vessels before the Admiral had left for Bolas. Captain Gerik Thou and his sixth company had been deployed to the far south of the city in the district that linked the space port with the main areas of commerce and habitat for the population. Known as old town it was a maze of streets and junctions with no real logical layout and he had become frustrated at the multiple entry points available from the direction of the space port meaning if the enemy secured the landing zone at the port they would be able to push straight into old town from multiple angles so defending it would be a nightmare despite two other companies being deployed to assist. The district was thousands of miles long and responding to incursions would be difficult if they were stretched too thin. One of the major reasons for the flaws to defending old town was also how it was built. Being from when the city was first constructed it was a mix of new well constructed buildings that would survive heavy shelling to flimsy shanty like areas that would break apart quickly under sustained fire from an enemy force and it's lack of defensible choke points meant there was no way to funnel an enemy to their death. There was also very little room for armored vehicles to assist infantry, even the sentinels of the PDF dare not go too far into maze of streets lest they run out of space and be stuck which meant no knights would be able to assist in this areas defense. Rebus on the other hand had by comparison the easier assignment on the orbital ring that was protected externally by multiple defensive weapons and internally by defense turrets and corridors that made for excellent choke points.

Gerik had appreciated Kyros telling him he got this assignment because he trusted Gerik to think on his feet and if anyone could hold the line here it would be him but still there were other concerns to be had regarding old town. For example the districts to the right and the left of old town had already been entrenched by PDF forces who had spent the days before the legion arrived building massive aegis defense lines with plenty of guns and armor to support them. Both districts were industrial areas used for manufacturing and while Gerik did not doubt the skill of the PDF forces, if the enemy were strong enough and managed to break through either blockade then old town could become quickly surrounded and possibly cut off completely from the main forces assembling in the districts closer to the main citadel.

Gerik was walking the aegis line along the main road into the district. In the distance drop ships carrying ammunition stores, vehicles and other battle ready equipment were landing and taking off regularly. The gate to this section was open and a convoy of razor backs and predators were making their way through in the direction of the main aegis separating old town from the main city districts.

Sylph was busy configuring a thunder-fire cannon for anti-tank fire while other marines were laying mines and watching over the evacuation of the civilians.

Although the white blond tech-marine seamed occupied he acknowledged the captains approach.

"Brother Captain"

Gerik gave a curt nod back and stood beside the massive gun while Sylph adjusted it's firing arc

"Any news on reinforcements?" the tech-marine said still messing with the controls

Gerik shook his head.

"Until Sankara is able to find enough psyker's to power the array we are stuck fighting this battle alone"

"I have reinforced the aegis line with multiple tarantula turrets and have mined the road and as many of the other approaches as possible but there are so many access routes into this district we will struggle to cover them all" Sylph responded knowing Gerik was likely more interested in a status report than idle speculation

"very good, carry on" Gerik said before continuing on

Further down the line six company became the seventeenth and sergeants gave him salutes as he passed. He eventually made his way back as evening drew on. The last convoy was coming through and a predator stopped in it's tracks and rotated to face the gates as it closed. The one tank was likely to be the only armor support the sixth would get. He looked over to the star port that was still a hum with activity, the hope was that between the fleet and the orbital ring no enemy units would ever reach the ground but Gerik knew enough about how battles worked to know that things never went as planed. One unit out of place or the wrong target is chosen and everything could go down hill. The gates made a massive screech as they bolted shut, for tonight they could simply sit and watch but who knew what tomorrow might bring.

Audience chamber

Alistravia had moved the evening briefing to the larger audience chamber next to the governors office. After the first three briefings she had found the previous room to be too enclosed so they had moved here. This room had a larger round table with more room to display multiple tactical overlays at once. Everyone had filed in promptly. Sankara was stood directly opposite Alistravia who was flanked by Kyros and Gigas. The governor herself stood next to her uncle and the knight commander. Arch magus Belinax had not appeared despite her presence being requested which would count as another strike against her meaning any hope of her receiving assistance from the sea devils had been lost until Khartoum had been defended. NX-145 however had appeared via the holographic link straight away.

Alistravia gave it another few minutes, Admiral Martens image appeared but still no Mechanicum representative.

"Well it appears Belinax will not be joining us this evening. Whats the status of all stations?"

"All sea devils companies have been deployed. Rebus is over seeing the evacuation of the orbital ring and all ships are being prepared for combat deployment" Kyros responded

"Make sure we can man them with a minimal crew that way we have more body's on the ground" the primarch said before looking across the table to her equerry

"Sankara what is the status of the array?" Alistravia asked

"I should have it ready to broadcast by tomorrow however I do not know how much time we will have to send a message before either the system burns out or all the psyker's die"

NX-145 shifted in his cradle.

" _I have a way to increase the longevity but it may be... distasteful to your primarch"_

"Do not tell me what I may or may not find distasteful magus, if your plan is reasonable I will accept it"

" _My apologies I meant no offense but I have calculated that if navigators are taken from half of the fleet, excluding the sea devil ships as they do not carry them. Then we could keep the array active for longer however they would likely die as a result of being interconnected and forced to broadcast a much more powerful psychic message than they are used too. It may also result in condemnation from the navigator houses"_

The room was silent and everyone looked to Alistravia but Ariel spoke first.

"you are right it is distasteful and I am sure the primarch will join me in refu..."

"Do it!" Alistravia said interrupting the governor

Ariel was taken back and looked as if she had just had a loved one gutted right in front of her.

"My lady surely you can not be willing to sacrifice the lives of the navigators..."

"if you have a better idea Governor I'd like to hear it?" Alistravia said again cutting her off

"I do not agree with this course of action"

"I don't care!" Alistravia shot back at her and the governor fell silent

"I will begin bringing down the navigators tonight" Sankara said clearing the tension

Alistravia nodded before turning to the admiral.

"How goes the evacuation?"

" _we have enough ships however it will take another four days to evacuate the planet completely and make the journey back to the Khartoum system"_ He responded

"Good but do what you can to speed it up as I need you back here as soon as possible"

The admiral nodded and his image dissipated.

"Gigas?"

"mother I have begun moving the defense satellites for maximum effect but many are old and won't last long under sustained assault but I believe we can use them as large mines as a last resort if we fill them with explosives"

"I protest!" The governor shouted "You are making too many sacrifices at the expense of imperial lives!"

Alistravia shot back a look of annoyance before speaking.

"You requested assistance and we came to provide it. Do you now wish for us leave?"

"No my lady I simply meant..."

"Do you think any of my brothers would do things differently? There is an old Estrellan saying. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and I care not for a few navigators and soldiers who have to die to defend this world but I do care what will happen if we fail here and this enemy is left to attack the core worlds that contain trillions of individuals whose lives do matter and not just to me but to the emperor as well. Perhaps you should think on that before you raise your voice to me again!"

The room fell quiet and the governor looked to her uncle who shook his head at her.

"Does anyone else have any objections to the decisions I have taken?"

No one spoke and Alistravia smiled.

"Good. We will hold another meeting tomorrow morning... Dismissed"

Fecrair system

The golden fleet sat in high orbit around the ice world that lay south west of the core systems. Shuttles and storm birds went back and forth as the day to day business of a fleet took place. Currently the warriors of the emperor were crushing a xenos race that had fought valiantly at first but were now in their death throws but they held on desperately and the prediction was another three days of fighting before victory could be assured.

On the central large golden ship the emperor of man and the first lord were speaking when a custodian came in interrupting their discussions on the on going crusade.

"What is it lavaliere?" The emperor asked not looking away from the map of the imperium

Lavaliere removed his golden helm and held it under his right arm while holding his golden spear. He had not the age of Ra Endymion, one of the greatest of the ten thousand. Nor did he have the great custodians grand knowledge but Lavaliere had proven him self a great fighter and that had allowed him a position close to his liege.

Like all custodians he bared the marks of tribal tattoos and scars of combat but he had kept his youthful looks and still appeared fresh faced despite his age and veteran status.

He knelt before the emperor before speaking.

"Sire we have picked up a re-transmitted signal from the second legion, a group of systems have come under attack from an unknown xenos race. The second has gone to provide assistance but the message states a large number of xenos ships. Most likely an invasion force"

The emperor turned and looked over the kneeling custodian. In his left hand he held a data slate out towards him which he took and activated.

The message was allowed to play several time before the emperor showing no outward emotion placed the slate on a near by table before turning to the map of the imperium and focusing on the Cirrus segmentum. He eyed the most recent report from that area.

It was hard to tell if the master of mankind cared for his daughter or indeed any of the primarchs but certainly his next words no matter how detached it sounded felt loaded with concern.

"If this is indeed an invasion then even with her fleet there may not be enough ships and warriors"

Silence after the emperor spoke was best left as such. Lavaliere had once waited a whole day for his emperor to respond but this time only a few minutes past before he turned back to face the custodian.

"What is the fastest ship in the fleet?"

"The Arkhilies my lord. Shes not heavily armed but can make most journeys in half the time of her sister ships" Lavaliere responded

"how long will it you to reach Khartoum aboard that ship?"

"If I leave right now?... a day assuming the Immaterium stays calm" the custodian responded

"Then go and take one hundred of the ten thousand with you. I will begin organizing a relief force as soon as we are done here, tell Alistravia to use command eta extremist"

"it will be done sire" The custodian responded before hurrying out

Malcador shifted his wight on to his cane. Leaning forward.

"What?" The emperor said looking back to him

"Oh nothing, just a thought"

"care to share it old friend?" The emperor responded

"perhaps later" Malcador said as he smiled

Khartoum

Sankara had called a private meeting with Alistravia, Kyros and Gigas. They stood in the governors office facing the desk which Alistravia stood behind.

"I apologies for waking you mother but I found something interesting"

Alistravia smiled at her equerry. She was so close with Sankara that much of what he did was never a surprise to her although she knew she had surprised him at times. It had been almost a day and Alistravia had been sleeping or at least in a way she had. Like her brothers she could shut down parts of her brain to rest, of course she preferred a proper sleep in a warm bed for as many hours as she could get but given the situation she needed to be alert at all times so as to be ready to receive updates or in this case attend an emergency briefing.

"I am sure it's important Sankara or you wouldn't of done it" Kyros responded

"You are right about that and I believe we are in bigger trouble than we first thought"

"Then don't waste any more time, tell us what you have found" Alistravia said

Sankara nodded and brought up a holographic display of billions of signal readings he had been sent by NX-145.

"I believe this attack is a precursor to a larger invasion plan" Sankara paused to let the others absorb the news

"Go on" Alistravia responded

"In working with NX-145 I have had access to all the scans for the past one hundred years the relay station has been active. Since it was deployed it began picking up unusual signals from the edge of the galactic arm"

"I remember reading that a scout fleet was sent to investigate and found nothing" Gigas interrupted

Sankara nodded.

"This is true but I believe the strange signals they picked up were simply echos from ships jumping between systems so by the time imperial scouts reached the area those ships had jumped away but I was able to recover their scans of the systems they explored"

"I don't like how ominous that last sentence sounded brother" Kyros said

"San are you trying to say the whole imperium is about to be invaded?" Alistravia asked

The equerry nodded.

"I have dispatched probes to confirm but if my math is correct each jump wake has a shock wave radius of nearly ten thousand light years..."

"That would mean over three thousand ships in a fleet" Gigas said interrupting again "Are you sure?"

"Have you ever known me to be wrong?"

Alistravia walked around the desk and stood between the three officers.

"how many fleets"

"until the probes come back..."

"how many San?!"

Sankara sighed.

"At least ten and as Gigas postulated each is likely to have over three thousand ships"

Kyros folded his arms and rolled his head.

"But you said this was precursor to an invasion? Why not just send all ten fleets in at different Segmentum's along the southern border, it's lightly defended so they would be able to make significant gains before the imperium could respond"

"I believe it has something to do with the gas, perhaps it is a fuel source to them like it is to the imperial navy"

"So they are trying to secure a supply line?" Alistravia asked

"I believe so" Sankara responded

"Then it's imperative we stop them here!" Gigas stated

Alistravia turned back and leaned forward on the desk. Kyros could hear the strain on it's legs even though his primarch was barley using any wight. After a minute she turned back with an extremely serious look on her face.

"San we need that broadcasting ability and we need it fast. I don't care how you do it but get it done. Kyros get as many defensive structures built as you can"

"I will try mother but I am no son of Dorn"

"you are just as capable in my eyes" She responded with a hint of affection

Alistravia was about to speak to Gigas when a vox line opened from the orbital ring.

" _Mother the Marie Celeste has returned and they have brought you a gift"_ Rebus said

"were on our way"

Orbital ring

The orbital ring was a large structure that was half complete when the imperial fleet found the human colony's in the segmentum. Since then it had been finished and armed to the teeth with every kind of anti ship gun the imperium could attach too it. Cannons that were normally carried by titans or large war ships were the first guns visible. It was only when an approaching vessel took a closer look could they make out the thousands of other surface weapons ranging from torpedo launchers to massive las gun arrays. Four secondary command centers and one primary controlled the rings vast weapons system. Each of the smaller four commanded a section of guns but the main primary one however could override the other four towers and great effort had gone into defending it. Every intersection had been turned into a kill-zone, entire sections had been sealed off to funnel enemy forces into taking one approach and lifts had been rigged to explode should a non-human step inside. It was pain staking and along with this the ships that were docked were being refitted to fight except one, the Marie Celeste. She had brought her cargo on board which made it's way to the main hanger underneath the primary command center where a brig and lab had been established after the ship had sent a message letting the legion know they had a prisoner.

Alistravia walked into the hanger and looked straight to Nev who was stood by a cube shaped cell that had transparent walls yet no light was visible except a small red glow.

She walked over to her chief apothecary who was obviously anxious to show her something based on his body language.

"Our prisoner" he gestured towards the cell

Alistravia peered in. a creature sat on the floor in the center. It appeared to have large ears attached to the side of it's large face. A jaw with fangs hung limply below a flat nose that seamed to look almost like the underside of an old Terran sailing ship. Where it's arms were two thin membranes of skin stretched between it's body and underarm. It was covered in a short fur that seamed to be burnt in places.

"Mammalian?" Alistravia asked

"Indeed" the apothecary responded "and watch this" he said as he punched a rune and the lights came up

Instantly the creature shrieked and pulled the thin membranes over it's face. Smoke came from it's fur like it was burning. Nev deactivated the light.

"They don't like the light, that's interesting"

"I will know more after I dissect it" Nev responded watching the creature return to it's seated position

"can we use the light against them?" Alistravia asked observing the creatures features

"Their armor protects them but Nylar can tell you more"

"is it intelligent? Can it speak?"

"it's vocal chords seam basic, attempts to communicate have been futile but from observation alone it seams to work on sound and echo location... like a bat"

"that makes sense, it's home-world is likely to be in an eternal night... Finnish your observations then dissect it, I want to know everything... especially how we can kill them quickly" Alistravia spoke with a desire for that particular knowledge

"By your command" the apothecary responded

Alistravia made her way to where Kyros was stood along with the chief tech-marine Nylar Batten. Kyros was examining a helmet that had been taken from the creature. It was jet black and angular like a shape often found in geometric science.

"mother" Nylar said whilst saluting her

"what have you got for me?" Alistravia asked looking over the jet black armor that had been stripped from the creature

"the helm Kyros is holding is their only way to experience the world around them fully other wise they are mostly blind"

He took the helm from Kyros and attached a cable too it before linking the other end to a pic screen. Nylar was fairly young compared to Kyros and the other senior officers. He was older than rebus of course but had started out as a simple technician before signing up to the legion. He quickly proved he was the most skilled tech-marine in the legion rising through the ranks faster than anyone else. He had shaved recently Alistravia could tell because of how different he looked without his beard he usually kept so well trimmed. He still had a solid head of golden blonde hair that was common among Estrellan's.

He powered the helm and the pic screen lit up with a black and white image made of dots. He moved the helm around showing the full hanger before focusing on Kyros's face that appeared distorted. A bang from a tech-marine disassembling the escape pot caused a directional rippling affect.

"As you can see this enhances their echo location and allows them to visualize the world around them all be-it in a limited spectrum and noise acts as a warning rune would to us"

"I assume it blocks out light sources?" Alistravia asked

"yes their entire armor is made of a reflective polymer that absorbs sun light like a black hole" he aimed the helm at Kyros again "Would you mind turning on your suit lumens Brother"

"Of course" Kyros said activating the bright lights attached to his terminator armor

The lumens of the suit were bright and even Nylar turned his eyes away from it although it seamed to have no effect on Alistravia. The picture on the helm how ever had changed to dull the light source and created a shadowing tracer effect.

"One thing you might find interesting is that their suits are powered by the gas" Nylar said before switching the pic screen off

"that explains why they need this segmentum... they could supply the gas to their fleets as they move into imperial territory" Kyros stated

Nylar nodded.

"that would make sense because without the gas the user would be just as blind with the suit as they are without"

"Thank you Nylar that's one mystery solved, what about their weapons?" Alistravia asked looking over a xenos pistol

"This pistol is limited to basic las fire, more powerful than an imperial guardsman's weapon but I would guess at limited range, it was unfortunate no other weapons were recovered" Nylar responded

"Keep at it" Alistravia said before moving over to Rellan and the lieutenant who were looking over the data they acquired

"tell me something good gentleman" She said approaching

"I am afraid it's not good my lady, the enemy have approximately two hundred million soldiers, maybe more and as I told captain Rellan that is not including tanks and other craft"

"ships, weapons?" Alistravia said to Rellan

"Like themselves their ships work on echo location and advanced sensor feedback, their weapons seam similar to but more advanced than the standard imperial vessel so we will have some advantage there but I can not speak for their shield technology as we only engaged a few scouts"

"If they can only detect movement would they see a minefield?"

"Yes but I have an idea about that" the lieutenant responded "if we use mines with the piranha protocol they would struggle to avoid them, even if it doesn't stop them it will slow them down"

"Very well then captain you have my permission to set up roving minefields across the system, place as many as you can close to the orbital ring without blocking our own ships"Alistravia said

"I would be happy to work with captain Rellan again" the lieutenant responded

"No you misunderstand, Rellan has to lead his company on the ground so... you...will take all corvettes and mine the system... Captain Koan"

For a minute Koan was stunned, then he saluted and bowed.

"thank you my lady I will not fail you"

Alistravia nodded and the newly promoted captain marched off.

"How long until they jump again?" Alistravia asked as Captain Koan exited the hanger

"Just under three days then another twelve before they can jump again"

"well that gives us some time, I want you to inform the the admiral of the situation and then get to the surface" Alistravia said

"Yes mother" Rellan answered as she moved off to the next terminal

Three people stood by the next group of pic screens that were siphoning data from the captured escape pod. Velar was the first and he was the one most interested in the data stream, Carin was with him in a full suit of armor due to the situation and again he carried the sword Fulgrim had given him as well as a small bolt pistol. Sankara was the last and he was reading a data slate.

"So what do we know about them?" Alistravia asked the group

"Little I am afraid, the data core has some background on their society but nothing substantial" Velar responded mournfully

"home-world location?"

"somewhere on the edge of the galaxy but there's no coordinates for a more exact location however I believe it may have been destroyed in some cataclysm"

"destroyed?" Sankara inquired "how?"

"Unknown, their language is difficult to decipher but what I can tell you is at some point in the past one hundred years something destroyed their home and now they seek a new one" Velar responded highlighting a particular translated part of text

"San, how many worlds in the imperium are locked into a permanent or close to permanent night cycle?" Alistravia asked

Sankara took a breath as he thought but before he could answer Carin spoke.

"There are four" he said turning everyone to look at him "Nostromo, Barbarus, Neverlight and Necromunda"

"which is closest from this position?" velar asked his charge

"Barbarus, then Neverlight and Necromunda which are part of the core systems"

"The death lord's home world could be appealing to them as a target for resettlement" velar said

"But they would have to deal with the toxic gas that covers the world" Sankara responded

"it's unlikely the enemy have scouted far enough ahead to pick out individual worlds" Alistravia responded in thought "But given they have ten fleets of thousands of war ships they could cause a lot of damage before they are stopped... San how long till we can broadcast?"

"not much longer, I am currently re-configuring the array for a larger broadcast range"

"good stay on it" Alistravia responded

Docking port sigma

It had started with a few people refusing to leave the area and wanting to leave the system on one of the transports being refitted but what had been simply stubbornness to accept reality had turned into anger. As more and more people had gathered to be transported down to the surface arguments had erupted. At first it was old wounds being re-opened by jilted lovers and people who had fallen out shouting at each other. Of course there were the wealthy people who were trying to buy their way out of the system but Rebus and his company paid them no heed and continued watching over the crews overseeing the refit, that was until a man began to organize them. He had started by calming down the arguments and Rebus was pleased as the crowd died down but then he had turned their anger from a mess of fear and hate for each other into a dagger aimed at the space marines.

"Do you see this my friends, they don't want us to leave. They intended to trap us on the planet and when they are defeated they will leave us to die"

The crowd roared and pushed forward against the barriers that had been set up. Rebus turned with the other members of the seventh present and took a step forward.

" _stay away from the barriers and calm down. No ships will leave this system until the primarch gives the all clear"_ Rebus voxed across the crowd who booed and jeered him

"See friends the primarch does not care about us, all she wants is to waste our ships to prevent her own from having to fight"

The crowd roared again and pushed even harder against the barriers. Instinctively the space marines raised there bolters.

" _stand down or we will shoot"_ Rebus voxed again

"There's more of us than them let's take the ships and get out of this doomed system" the man shouted

The crowd pushed forward and things were thrown, a metal pipe and other junk bounced harmlessly off the space marines. In the crowd a mother holding her son was pushed and she fell dropping her child who began crying.

" _We have a riot starting in the docking bay all squads move to assist"_ Rebus shouted across the vox network

Docking bay

Alistravia was about to board the storm-bird when Carin ran up to her.

"mother you have to let me fight"

"Carin we have been over this your not ready" She responded as the maidens shield moved back to give them some space

"I am ready, I think your just afraid that I might get hurt and you couldn't cope if anything happened to me and besides you need more bodies on the ground to fight and that you can... not...deny...Mother are you listening"

Alistravia had just heard Rebus's vox call and was lost in thought. She turned to him and smiled.

"your right, go and help Gerik defend the old town" She said as she started to walk back towards the exit of the hanger

"where are you going?" he shouted as she drew close to the doors

"To get more bodies" She shouted back

Docking port sigma

It was now completely out of hand and the barriers were starting to collapse. Rebus raised his bolter and began to squeeze the trigger but a hand on his shoulder plate made him turn.

"Calm thoughts Rebus, more violence will not solve this situation" his mother said, then before he could stop her she vaulted over the barrier and into the crowd

Alistravia made a bee line for the child on the floor. She had heard his cry's the moment she had entered the this section. The child was not hurt yet but would be soon. The crowd were not aware such a small human was in danger of being trampled. She could also hear the mother crying out for help.

She scooped the child up into her arms and looked around, so far no one had noticed who she was.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted and a wave of force passed over the crowd

A hundred thousand people simply stopped and turned to face her, some fell to their knees others looked frightened and some wept.

The man who had instigated it was close to Alistravia but he too fell to his knees at the sight of her. Silence filled the hold as Alistravia looked around still carrying the child who had stopped crying, his mother was holding her arms out towards Alistravia and she handed back the young boy before turning to face the crowd as one of the maiden shield pushed through for her protection.

"Well are you proud of yourselves? a child could have been killed because of your selfish attitudes"

No one answered, the whole crowd were hypnotized by the immortal being stood among them.

"I understand you are all afraid, you think that you are not safe here and you will die at the hands of creatures who care nothing for you"

There was a few coughs and a small murmur but no one dared speak out loud as she continued.

"many of you are descendants of those who first colonized this world so long ago and yet you try to run. Do you think it was easy for them in an unknown part of the galaxy facing xenos the likes of which no one had ever seen before?"

Again the crowd stayed silent.

"It wasn't but they survived, colonized this world and thrived but you" Alistravia said indicating the whole crowd "You betray them with this cowardice and not just them but you betray the imperium and the emperor"

The only sound was the hum from the power pack of the terminator that now stood at her side.

"Win or lose I can tell my father one of two things when he asks me how did the people of Khartoum faced their enemy. I could tell him, father they ran like cowards and abandoned the very world their ancestors fought and died for or...or I can tell him of a people who stood their ground, picked up a weapon and defended their world!... those people I would be proud to call true citizens of the imperium!"

A cheer came from the crowd and a faint smile shot across Alistravia's face. She had them, just a little more and her siren song would ensnare them, it was hard to change the minds of so many at once and she had to use her words carefully because she needed to make them think she needed them and that it was they who chose to fight not she who ordered them to.

"Instead of fighting my sons, fight along side them and make the vile xenos who step on your world pay for it in their blood that you draw by your hands and we will have a victory so great every world in the imperium will know that the people of Khartoum are the greatest warriors in the galaxy!

A huge cheer washed over the crowd. Shouts of oaths remade came from their lips.

"for Khartoum!"

"For the imperium!"

Alistravia watched as the crowd cheered and began shouting and waving fists daring the xenos to come at them. After a few minutes she held her hand up for quiet. The crowd settled down and Alistravia smiled to them all.

"This is a glory to behold and together we will make our enemy regret ever coming here, For the emperor!"

"For Alistravia!" another man shouted and chants of both erupted from the crowd as Alistravia walked back behind the barriers to a waiting Kyros

"Arm and deploy them" She said

"As you wish" the first captain said in response

Khartoum

Alistravia had been on the surface for a few hours when the governor walked wishing to speak to her. She stood with a Castellan at either side of her with a very upset look upon her first.

"Now you are conscripting civilians?"

"We needed more people to fight and they are willing" Alistravia responded as she read a data slate

"They are civilians who need our protection and your asking them to sacrifice themselves and for no other reason than we need more soldiers" Ariel winced at the idea "if most of our population die fighting then no one will be left to continue on after... did you even think of that"

Alistravia glanced up from the data slate.

"I did... and I also thought about the trillions who will die should we lose this fight. Those people need protecting also and as I told you last time the needs of the many..."

The governor grew angry and slammed her hands on the desk. The two maiden shield warriors stood by the window powered up and stomped forward.

"Are all the children of the emperor this arrogant and selfish!"

Alistravia locked eyes with Ariel who stood back from the table.

"Be careful how you speak about my brothers governor, you are lucky it is me and not Angron or Konrad who sits in this chair because they would of killed you days ago for your insolence... But if you are so concerned with the people perhaps you would pick up a rifle and fight?"

This seamed to make the governor angrier.

"This has gone too far and when it is over I will be lodging a complaint with the emperor personally" Ariel spat before turning and walking out

A beep alerted Alistravia to the vox.

" _mother a ship has just emerged from the warp, it is the Arkhilies a ship from the emperors fleet. Their commander wishes to speak with you as soon as possible"_ Kyros voxed

"Escort them to me immediately and Kyros?"

" _yes mother"_

"get someone to keep an eye on the governor"

" _affirmative"_

Old town

Gerik heard the gates open from his position further down the line. He was over seeing the devastators and sniper nest locations to provide the best field of fire when the rumbling came up the road. As the gate opened the predator moved aside and six rhinos came to a halt just inside the entrance way of the aegis defense line, a familiar figure descended from the gunner hatch to the ground.

"Carin! what is this and why are you here?"

"and a good day to you too Gerik" Carin responded "mother asked me to assist you and I brought some more help"

The rhinos assault ramp dropped open and light armored civilians strode out with basic las rifles. Some looked nervous but others had a ready to fight look on their face. Only four hundred had been assigned to this section of the line and as the first rhinos left another few came down the road bringing the next lot.

Gerik pulled Carin away from the transports and spoke softly.

"These are civilians, whats going on?"

"mother has issued a conscription order for anyone of fighting age among the sixty two million population" Carin responded "it's not ideal but it gives us more chance against an army that could be two hundred million strong"

"But that would still mean less than forty million extra bodies, and woefully inexperienced ones at that" Gerik said watching the civilian soldiers standing about

"I don't disagree with your math Gerik but we don't exactly have millions of imperial guard at our disposal besides once mother makes her broadcast the rest of the imperium will respond, we just have to hold on"

"and mother is really letting you fight now or did you just sneak down with these poor sods?" Gerik questioned

"She needs everybody and I am sure someone whose been trained by the best swordsman in the imperium will be of some use to you but yes she gave me permission" Carin said with a smile

"Fine go get yourself some ammunition"

Carin nodded and walked off as did Gerik who then felt a bump. He looked down to see a frightened youth in a gray uniform with a shoddy helmet.

"F...F...F...Forgive me my lord I wasn't looking" the youth said

Gerik held his hand out to youth who took it and was pulled back to his feet.

"No harm done... whats your name?"

"D...D...Devrin my lord"

Gerik picked up the boys las rifle and handed it back to him.

"Fight well Devrin"

Governors office

Lavaliere had been brought before Alistravia who was stood in front of the governors desk with Kyros and Sankara. Gigas had escorted the custodian and his two senior officers to the governors office. The golden armored warrior had removed his helm and stood face to face with the water maiden.

"only a hundred?" Alistravia quizzed

"It is all the emperor could spare"

"you think he could of spared a few dozen battle groups as well" Kyros said

"perhaps you can take that up with him next time you see him" The custodian said aggressively

"Maybe I will" Kyros responded stepping forward

Alistravia slammed her fist on the desk and the two stood down.

"Lavaliere what did my father say?"

"he is forming a task force to relive you as soon as he is done with his current campaign, he says you are to use command eta extremist"

Alistravia tilted her head in curiosity.

"does he really believe the situation requires that command?"

"I am sorry my lady but you seam confused by the order, why?

Alistravia looked at Sankara and Kyros.

"will everyone except Lavaliere and the senior officers leave"

The maidens shield needed no thought. Their primarch had given an order so they left, the two custodians with Lavaliere looked at their commander before he gave a nod and they left also.

Then Alistravia spoke.

"Command Eta extremist is a unique pass code given to every primarch for one situation only... a last stand scenario but none of us have ever needed it"

"A last stand? You mean a no win situation" Sankara asked

"sort of" Alistravia responded before leaning back against the desk "Perhaps it named wrongly but should any primarch be faced with a situation where they are out numbered and have limited forces they may use a code to access the entire imperial network and call everyone"

"what do you mean by everyone?" Kyros asked

"The code allows me access to all security systems across every relay station in the imperium and send a galaxy wide message to every imperial ship. Think of it as shooting up a distress flare that the whole galaxy can see"

"so it's an SOS, nothing unusual about that" Lavaliere said

"No my dear custodian you see when I send this code it will override every ship within a specified radius and bring them to me. No one is exempt no matter their mission, if were lucky we might get an entire legion battle group"

"So it will literally bring ships too us without their navigators guidance? Won't the crews try to override it?" Kyros asked

Alistravia shook her head.

"a message will be displayed to the crew stating they have been requisitioned by the highest order and they must wait till they arrive at their destination for further orders. Any attempt to override it will result in the ships destruction"

Sankara tilted his head.

"that sounds more like our tech than the Mechanicum"

"It is. I helped my father implement it many years ago... Lavaliere I assume you are under my command until my father arrives?"

The custodian nodded.

"Good I would ask something of you. Please send a squad to old town. You will find Carin there, as much as I trust in his abilities and Fulgrim's training he is still young and inexperienced so I would like him protected"

"it will be done" the custodian responded "But the rest of my warriors should stay with you for your protection when you step out on to the battlefield"

"I have my maidens shield" Alistravia responded

"I do not doubt their skill but we were built to protect the emperor himself and I feel we will offer your best chance to move about on the battlefield unopposed"

Alistravia took a deep breath as though she would argue with the custodian but then she exhaled.

"Fine" she said before turning to Sankara "are you ready to broadcast?"

"I believe so"

"good. Then get everyone ready because were about to something no one has ever done before or may ever do again"

Broadcast tower

Sankara led them all to a room filled with people sat in solid metal chairs or attached to tables with restraints or cables. In the center of the room were six glass tubes surrounding a central column that towards the top looked like a tree as it had hundreds of branches going off in different directions. The glass tubes each contained a member of the astropathic choir who appeared to be asleep. The people in the chairs were either psyker's taken from the city or the navigators taken from the ships and they were all linked to the central system by a headset that was drilled into their skull. A few legion psyker's were monitoring them as they slept or cried out hoping for release, as Alistravia passed through towards the platform that would be used to transmit her image one of the navigators reached out at her. She turned to face him.

"Please mistress, we might die"

"Your sacrifice will be remembered" She responded before continuing on

The platform was already humming with energy as Alistravia stepped on to it, Sankara stood at the console waiting for a command.

"San open a signal to the imperial network"

Sankara accessed the network carefully and then waited.

"I am in"

Alistravia nodded.

"begin the broadcast signal"

Sankara pushed a rune and the system lit up. Some of the psyker's flinched as the surge of energy passed through them.

"We are broadcasting"

Alistravia looked over the navigators and other psyker's who were twitching as their power was used to send a signal. She would remember them as she would all those who sacrificed their lives for the imperium such was a primarchs mind, they never forgot. She took a deep breath and began.

"This is Alistravia Tempera primarch of the second legion astartes. I am issuing command eta extremist authorization code, Alpha Primaris two"

Instantly the boards lit up further. Security fire walls, even the most advanced the Mechanicum could develop fell. The command code activated a virus that spread through the system like wildfire infecting every ship and world attached to the network. Even the astronomican the great beacon that guided ships through the warp could not escape it's reach as it was used to bounce the signal across the rest of the imperial network. It took several minutes before the whole system was infected and the psyker's shirked and bent in their seats. Those in the glass tubes banged against the glass desperate to escape as blood poured from their eyes.

Alistravia ignored the cries and shrieks. This was all necessary to protect the imperium and the trillions of people who would suffer should they fail.

"Full access is achieved mother. You may start as soon as you are ready!" Sankara shouted over the cries

Alistravia took a moment and a breath before speaking.

"This is Alistravia tempera to all vessels within fourteen days travel of the Khartoum system. You are ordered to this system to reinforce legion assets already present. All other orders are suspended and your ships will auto pilot to this location, any attempt to stop it will result in self destruction of your ship. New orders will be given once you arrive at Khartoum..."

The system went green and yellow as the signal was sent across the network pushed by the psychic force of the navigators and psyker's present. Many died instantly, one pulled his skin from his own face as the cable burnt into his skull and a female navigators head practically exploded. The astropathic choir was injured in one way or another but only one of them was dead. Out of the one hundred and eight navigators and psyker's attached to the beacon only five survived with another two barley alive.

The stench of flesh was heavy in the air as Alistravia stepped down from the broadcast podium.

Lavaliere came over to her as she moved to leave the tower.

"now what"

"now?" she responded looking back at the bodies of those who had died "now we wait and hope their deaths weren't for nothing"

Bolas system

The last six vessels were powering their way towards the mandivile point where they would open a sub space rupture and enter the warp. Initially the captains of the evacuation ships had been pushing their engines to breaking point and several had almost blown their reactors which meant a delay as they had to be repaired by the Estrellan repair frigate the admiral had brought with him. After that he had ordered the captains to not push too hard as more delays could cost them.

The last contact he had had with Khartoum the primarch told him he had less than three days which at the time seamed an impossible time scale to meet but with some organization and thought the agri world was now evacuated and the civilians were soon to be out of danger, at least for now. Five of the eight vessels he had taken with him followed slowly behind the convoy with the two cruisers at the front forming a spear tip while the fighter carrier "Typhoons roar" sat in the center of the convoy with it's fighter group on watch.

The Ahab's rage bridge was quiet, several officers were exchanging data slates and the astartes that had been placed on ship duty were stood silently watching. Kelsey had stayed with the fleet to assist in case of borders, the other dreadnoughts of the legion were on the surface but he had been sleeping for several months and wasn't awoken until Gerik's company was deployed and he had requested to stay aboard the flagship until it returned. What remained of the veteran space marine floated silently in his tank behind the thick armor of his dreadnought chassis. A long time had passed since he was sealed inside this cage. Alistravia hadn't wanted it but the emperor had insisted the warriors of the legion should fight on as long as some part of them lived. She had reluctantly agreed to have a few dreadnoughts in the legion but after a few years it became customary for the second legion astartes to be allowed to die rather than be entombed in a machine for all eternity. In many ways Kelsey hoped for death. He at times had gone after opponents he had seen destroy other dreadnoughts but not even an Eldar wraith lord could grand him peace, he had charged the construct head first as it's weapon tore chunks out of his armor. He had drilled deep gouges into it's leg causing to fall to one knee and then he unloaded all the ammunition from his assault gun into it's exposed head. He could swear he heard it talking before it died but it was just the sounds of the battle around him. Once Alistravia had asked him if he wished her to kill him... to give him peace but he had said no and that he could only achieve true peace in death in battle alongside his brothers.

A proximity alert broke him from his reminiscence.

"Admiral nine Mechanicum ships are approaching" An officer called out "they are requesting comms"

Up until now the Mechanicum ships had stayed by the forge world and not made any communication with the admirals task force but now nine cruisers were powering their way towards them and the mandivile point.

"Lets see what demand Belinax is making" The admiral said as he stood beside Kelsey

The vox opened and the Holographic image of a magus appeared.

" _I am kalinex former assistant to arch magos Belinax"_

" _Former?"_ Kelsey asked

" _I do not support Belinax's decision to defend the forge world, she is making an illogical choice. I believe whatever remains of her human emotions is causing her to make those illogical choices"_

"So you plan to leave the system and assist the legion? I must say that Is suspicious" The admiral said

" _I do not wish to sacrifice myself and other servants of the Omnissiah in some futile attempt to gain favor with the fabricator general... why do you find that suspicious?"_ kalinex responded

"I am sure you are aware the second legion primarch had an attempted assassination made against her by the Mechanicum so surely you can understand why we are concerned" Admiral marten replied narrowing his eyes at the magus

" _I am well aware of the the rouge Mechanicum that tried to ignite a war between mars and Terra but we did not agree with their motives... they were misguided but..."_ kalinex spoke as he leaned forward _"just so you know I am carrying a war-hound titan aboard this ship and the rest are filled with skitarii and other Mechanicum war machines... I doubt the primarch would turn down that kind of support"_

The admiral looked over to Kelsey, the contemptor had no way of indicating his agreement non verbally but through the viewing slit the admiral could see his eyes and smiled.

"Very well fall in behind us an..."

"Admiral multiple enemy contacts jumping in!" came a shout from the deck

"Show me" the admiral shouted

The oculus shifted to show a position close to the forge world. Ship after ship was appearing.

"Battle-stations!" The admiral shouted "tell the convoy to keep moving and jump as soon as they are able!"

"Sir several ships are breaking off from the main enemy fleet and heading towards the nine Mechanicum cruisers, they will over run them in six minutes" The sensorium officer called out

" _we can not possibly out run them you must assist us"_

The admiral looked at the tactical display. In five minutes the convoy would be free to jump away but by then the Mechanicum vessels would be under attack and likely destroyed.

"Contact the rest of the fleet tell them to keep going and defend those transports, helm bring us around and put us on course to intercept those ships"

"Sir a few of those enemy ships have adjusted their approach and are heading for the convoy, three enemy vessels are still perusing the Mechanicum ships" The sensorium officer shouted out

" _If you can buy us a few minutes we will be able to catch up with the rest of your fleet" kalinex voxed_

"I have an idea" the admiral said smiling at the contemptor "Kelsey how would you like to explore an alien vessel?"

If what remained of Kelsey still had a face it would of smiled.

" _Just get me aboard and I will do the rest"_ he responded with no emotion through his vox grill but the fingers on his power-fist twitched in anticipation

"whats the status of the enemy shields?" The admiral asked

"The central large ship has heavy front shielding but a direct assault would lower it enough to open a wormhole" the officer responded

"Kelsey I will get you aboard that ship and deal with the two light cruisers while you cause some havoc aboard the larger one"

" _Send a drone with me that can hack into their data core, mother would be pleased if we come back with something tangible" Kelsey said_

"you don't want any backup" said an astartes sergeant who was manning a close by station

" _no you must stay here and defend the crew in case they are counter boarded"_

"Entering weapons range"

"OPENFIRE!" The admiral shouted

As the egg shaped warship turned from it's pursuit of the Mechanicum vessels to face it's new opponent it was hit by las beam and torpedo strikes, it's shields cracked and shattered under the wight and beams slammed into it's hull causing tremendous damage. It's own guns responded but the Ahab's rage had the advantage and her shields weathered the return fire before she turned away as if unimpressed by it's foes firepower and bared down on one of the other perusing vessels while deep in the bowls of the enemy vessel a wormhole opened and a monster stepped through it.

The corridor was pitch black but their was more than enough room for the contemptor, his vision mode switched immediately to compensate for the low viability. Three of the xenos came around the corner, at first they seamed confused but quickly they realized they had been boarded and drew weapons. One of them shot at Kelsey with a pistol but it did nothing but make a dirty black mark against his hull and he chuckled, the noise of his vox grill laugh echoing down the corridor.

" _Pathetic_ " he said before swinging his massive arm and swatting them aside

The little hack drone had begun to hack the enemy network and attached it's self to the contemptor for protection as he began stomping forward.

" _admiral I am aboard and heading towards their engine room"_

" _Understood we are dealing with the other two vessels, when your done have the drone signal me"_

" _Affirmative" Kelsey responded_

The sensorium officer had located the enemy engineering section due to the power levels emitting from the location and Kelsey had been placed two decks above in order to give the drone time to hack into their network. He stomped forward as more xenos came around. They were not armored and ran on sight but all they did was escape his power-fist, they couldn't escape the under-slung heavy bolter. A few tried attacking him from corridors as he passed but nothing they threw at him could dent his chassis. He swung round and mowed down a group that tried to ambush him from the rear, one got in rather close and Kelsey slammed his drill through it's body tearing it to shreds as whatever the creatures used for blood covered the walls. He carried on as as the resistance became a little more testing. Before the bat faced looking creatures ran unable to deal with the contemptor's rampage but now actual soldiers appeared with slightly better weapons, not that it made much difference in the long run.

Squads tried to focus fire on his legs but he just laughed it off as the gunfire barley scratched the green and blue color scheme let alone caused him any movement issues.

The enemy had set up a choke point with a barricade around one of the corners with a heavy gun and Kelsey just laughed before charging through it making sure every xenos was dead before moving on. One of the creatures, an officer screeched an ear piercing noise at him which would of worked better had he still had ears. It registered as dangerous to a normal human in his readouts but Kelsey just grabbed the xenos with his power-fist and snapped it in half. He threw the corpse aside as he spotted his access point down to the engine core. It was a lift shaft, he peered down it and could see the floor he needed to be at. Luckily for him the brainless xenos had frozen the lift on the floor below and he jumped down.

Hundreds of rounds from some kind of automatic gun hit his back along with other shots. He turned to face a group of xenos behind a barricade along with a heavy weapon, again he laughed.

" _what a useless set of warriors you are"_ He said before charging them

This barricade was tougher and he slammed his drill into the plates they had used to build it while his power fist tore smaller plates away. As the barricade buckled one of the xenos threw an explosive device of some kind, it went off and Kelsey registered slight damage to his chassis.

" _At least one of you has accomplished something"_ He said as he broke through the barriers and began killing the xenos _"it is a shame none of you will live to tell the tale"_

It was clear the ships crew had never expected to be boarded as only a few more security teams stood in the contemptor's path as he smashed his way towards the engine room. Two auto guns defending the entrance opened up as the door slammed shut. Kelsey silenced them quickly and slammed his drill into the door.

" _Kelsey status?"_ The admiral voxed

" _I am breaking into the engineering room now what is the situation outside"_

" _the Mechanicum vessels have reached the rest of the convoy and are assisting in it's defense but the enemy have noticed us and more ships are on the way... I suggest you hurry"_

" _affirmative"_ he responded as the door gave way and he barreled through it's remains

None of the engineers fought back. A few tried to run but Kelsey tore them apart, the drone signaled it had access to the network and was downloading all information as fast as possible. Two great power cables connected a large glowing core to the rest of the ship and Kelsey was about to rip into them when a blade scrapped against his back. He turned to find a fully armored xenos with two jagged blades looking at him.

" _you wish to fight me? Very well but you will die like the rest"_ The contemptor responded charging forward

The alien creature jumped aside and raked his blades across Kelsey's chassis. Warning runes flashed on the contemptor's display and he chuckled as he spun round unleashing a torrent of bolter rounds. The creature was quick enough to find cover but the shells tore through one of power cables. Warning sirens came on and the creature rushed out and dived forward with blades aimed at Kelsey's head but the contemptor was in no mood to keep the battle going and he charged into the creatures dive smashing into it causing it's helm to break open and it's body to go flying back into the wall. Kelsey turned and ripped apart the second power cable. Sirens became louder and began to howl and what must have been a warning in the xenos language echoed across the room. The drone signaled it's completion and a wormhole formed a few seconds later, as was entering Kelsey saw the xenos stand up limply and run off out of the room.

" _I hope you reach an escaped pod little xenos then we can continue this fight"_ He said to himself as he stepped through the opening.

When Kelsey reach the other side aboard the Ahab's rage the Admiral was watching the ship Kelsey had boarded on the oculus. It had stopped dead and explosions were ripping it's aft section to shreds, then in a flash of light it exploded sending what remained of it's hull flying into deep space.

"Well that's one less ship we have to worry about" The admiral said

"Sir the convoy reports the enemy ships have retreated but..."

"but what lieutenant?"

"we lost two of the transports"

"damn!" the admiral said slamming his fist on a console

" _we must hope the data we acquired is useful so their deaths are not in vain"_ The contemptor said

The admiral nodded.

"Helm take us back to the Khartoum system...let us hope we have some better luck there"

Orbital ring

It had been almost a day since the broadcast and so far no ships had appeared. It was understandable as it was doubtful any imperial vessels were close enough to arrive is such a short span of time.

Nev had summoned the senior officers and Alistravia when his autopsy of the xenos was complete and they stood in the med-bay around the creature that lay on a table with it's chest open.

"So what are we looking at?" Alistravia asked the apothecary

"Much of what I found we already theorized. They have eyes but can not completely see out of them unless it is completely dark... even then they rely more on their sonar" Nev pointed to the creatures mouth "their vocal chords are basic but there's an organ just behind them that can emit a high pitched screech capable of deafening any un-augmented human without protective gear, an astartes would be partially deafened for period and as for you mother it would likely be a minor annoyance given your physiology is much more resilient"

"Then how do they communicate if their vocal chords are so basic?" Lavaliere asked

"There is enough development for a language but it will probably have very little in common with high Gothic...it would be more like a group of birds signaling through chirps or I would guess as shrieks in this case"

Kyros was stood by the head and looking at the large ears.

"They must have fantastic hearing"

"indeed so, we know their ships navigate on sensor feedback only so they must operate completely on echo returns from their sonar but if that's true it may be feasible that a sonic weapon could disorientate them"

"if that's the case then we could set up vox casters to broadcast random sounds at a high pitch to throw them off" Gigas said

"It would have to be extremely high pitched and would recommend supplying ear plus to all non astartes on the ground or they may be adversely affected too" nev responded

"I will take any advantage we can get... Gigas see it's done" Alistravia said looking over the corpse

"yes mother" he said before exiting

"what else can you tell us?" Sankara asked

"To be honest not much... to kill this one I simply subjected him to toxic nerve gas. He was somewhat resistant to it until I increased the parts per million for the poison, otherwise they are just as easily killed as any mammal" Nev responded

"what about those membranes... can they fly?" Alistravia inquired

"No they are too thin but my guess would be they can glide over some distance"

"Good work Nev, see if you can get anything else from it then dispose of the corpse...Kyros get this information passed on to all deployed forces and have..."

An alert beacon cut them off.

"Rebus report?" Kyros voxed

" _we have our first respondents to the broadcast, an ultramarine's strike group. A battle barge and a few escort vessels... they are requesting contact"_

"rebus tell their captain to report to me on the surface" Alistravia said

" _affirmative"_

"well that's some good news" Kyros said as they made their way back to the storm-bird

"It's one battle barge and few light cruisers. Can't be more than ten maybe fifteen thousand astartes... not exactly an army" Sankara responded

"beggars can't be choosers San... we will use Roboute's sons at what there best at... let us just hope our next arrivals bring more than a few thousand ultramarine's" Alistravia said as the entered the docking bay

Khartoum

On the surface the ultramarine's captain marched into the governors office like she expected the ultramarine to. His face had a hint of her brother and he stood to attention so stiffly he looked like would crack.

"I am Captain Forin or the fifty ninth company" he said

"At ease captain or you will break your bones" Alistravia said but the captain stayed as he was "I apologize for how you were brought here but needs must"

"No apology is necessary. I live to serve"

Alistravia glanced at Lavaliere who was smirking a little.

"good, have you had time to review the situation briefing Kyros prepared?"

"I have and my company is ready to assist you"

Alistravia glanced at Lavaliere one more time who was still smirking.

"excellent, Kyros will go over the current deployments with you. Please show him where you think your brothers will make the most difference... dismissed"

Forin saluted again and marched out in a regimental fashion. Lavaliere walked over to Alistravia.

"Well he he is the most pure example of an ultramarine I have ever seen"

"Indeed" Alistravia responded "But I've seen Forin on the battlefield before and that regimental mentality he has makes him one of the best field commanders around"

Half a day later more respondents appeared. The first was a small imperial fist strike force that consisted of only eight ships. After that a larger fleet of Iron warriors appeared led by a war-smith named Barabas Dantioch. He led the fifty first expeditionary fleet and was quite the noble presence most likely since he was a favored son of his father Perturabo. Alistravia had met him once before and expressed her relief at having the members of two legions who excel at defense assisting her.

After them came a group of death wing dark angels who brought with them a convoy carrying a large cache of military supplies.

Then for two days nothing appeared until the largest fleet yet broke free from the warp. A World eaters strike group and a full imperial battle fleet. The fleet admiral Hinayana Markov and the world eaters captain Everest Thrall were quite happy to be a part of the respondents however the next battle group was less than enthusiastic. They broke into real space with four days left before the enemy fleet was expected and instantly tried to return to the warp in anger not at being pulled here but by the primarch they were serving.

The word bearer captain was escorted to the office where Alistravia waited for him. He stood to attention helm off revealing a scared hairless face with a bald head. His body language while stood to attention was clearly showing annoyance especially at being escorted by two custodians. Lavaliere was the only one in the office with Alistravia. Kyros was busy working with the sons of Dorn and Perturabo to shore up the defenses. Admiral marten had returned two days after the ultramarine's arrived bringing a wealth of information that was now being decoded by Velar as well as thousands of skitarii and the now deployed war-hound titan. kalinex had allowed all the skitarii to be deployed on the ground despite leaving the Mechanicum fleet with very few anti-boarding units.

The now far larger fleet was being organized by both admirals who were busy going over each ships capabilities and discussing the best use of them in the coming battle. The ultramarine's captain had suggested his company assist in old town by building a second aegis line behind the first so a midway fall back position could be established in case Gerik and the forward sea devils companies were overrun and had to fall back. The dark angels had insisted they be used as roaming force to strike behind enemy lines which Alistravia pointed out to them was more of a Night Lord stratagem however their captain said sometimes it pays to adopt a fellow legions tactics to which she agreed assuming no actual Night Lords turned up.

The World Eaters had been stationed on the orbital ring to help Rebus as it was guaranteed to be a focus of attack for the enemy and the rage that drove the warriors of the twelfth would be a very useful asset. This all meant the legions who had responded had deployed at different strategic points throughout the city in order to maximize defense.

Alistravia stood behind the desk. She hadn't yet got ready for battle. She didn't dislike her armor but she would always wait until she felt ready before equipping it. Her battle sarcophagus that contained it and her weapons was sat silently in the main hall guarded by the custodians.

"while I may appear calm captain I indeed am quite furious that you attempted to leave this system without my authorization... you were told all other orders were suspended until further notice so why did you try to leave?"

"My father ordered us to stay away from your legion" He responded trying not to look directly at Alistravia

"yes I am aware of what my brother has said but as I said, all other orders were suspended"

The captain shifted slightly clearly uncomfortable at the situation. Alistravia continued.

"Now you have two options, you can refuse to help in which case I will have you all executed on the grounds of attempted desertion or you can assist in the defense and this will all be forgotten about"

"you have not the authority to execute members of another legion"

"actually she does" Lavaliere interrupted "Primarchs have full autonomy as lords of war to do what is necessary to achieve victory and we can not be baby sitting you in a cell while trying to defend against a greater force so execution is viable"

"Really custodian? and would you agree with that if you were in my shoes!" The captain spat angrily

"No because I would not forsake my oaths!" Lavaliere responded stepping forward with spear in hand

"Shut up! both of you" Alistravia exclaimed and the two fell quiet "my disagreement with how Lorgar acts towards my father is between me and him, the fact he is dragging his own legion in to it is proof he knows he is in the wrong. I am not asking much of you captain except that you do your duty and defend this world which you may leave as soon as the battle is over. So... what is your choice?"

The captain was quiet for a few moments and shifted his wight slightly as he looked at Alistravia.

"I do not agree with my fathers reverence of the emperor" he said which surprised Alistravia "we will assist"

Alistravia smiled.

"good, Kyros has your deployment orders. I trust you will not let me down...Dismissed"

The captain marched out quickly and left Alistravia alone with Lavaliere.

"even with the word bearers we barley number 40 million against two hundred million. I feel this defense may be futile without a miracle"

Alistravia shrugged.

"as a scientist I am taught not to believe in fate or miracles but right now we could use one"

A vox beep ended the conversation.

" _mother I've decoded some of the xenos files if you wish to take a look"_ velar said

"were on our way"

Kelsey stood as a towering monster next to Velar who was examining the data brought by the drone.

" _Mother, custodian"_ he said as the two walked in

Alistravia walked up to the contemptor and placed her hand on his chest.

"You did well Kelsey... you should sleep and regenerate before the battle"

The dreadnought bent forward as if to look down upon his primarch.

" _I would prefer to remain active until victory is ours"_ his metallic voice responded

Alistravia nodded and turned to Velar. The old marine was stroking his chin as he mused over the data.

"So what can you tell me"

"Their society is clan based. The creature in the escape pod is part of the lowest clan thus they are the basic soldier but there are more elite fighters within the other clans and they have a ruling group who organize their society"

"so they do have leaders?" Lavaliere asked

"yes" velar responded "but you may be surprised to learn they have no psyker's or psychic abilities at all"

" _then in that regard we have an advantage"_ The contemptor said

"Not a vast one since across all legionaries gathered we only have thirty five librarians" Lavaliere shot back at Kelsey

" _An advantage is an advantage custodian and should not be so easily dismissed"_

"I am dismissing nothing and..."

"Shut up!" Alistravia said before pointing to the custodian "this is the third time you have almost started a fight with an astartes and I tell you this Lavaliere you might of beaten Kyros or that word bearer but Kelsey would crush you like a bug"

There was silence for a moment before Velar continued.

"I am still translating but I am close to discovering how their world was destroyed"

"we can solve that mystery later Velar" Alistravia responded "What can you tell me about their tactical acumen"

"It appears they believe more in throwing vast numbers at an enemy until they are defeated. They have no unusual stratagems but we should not discount their gliding ability"

" _I found them to be no stronger than the blasted Eldar but there was one who was some what skilled"_ Kelsey mused

"you only faced a few crew aboard a ship. They may throw far worse at us on the ground" Alistravia pointed out

"we are correct in our assumption that they want to take this segmentum as a supply line as they move deeper into the imperium, according to their orders they have been unable to find a suitable world where they have been searching so must take territory from another species in order to survive" Velar said

"They picked the wrong species to mess with" Lavaliere stated

"Agreed" Alistravia said "but you were right earlier, we are vastly outnumbered"

"there is one other issue"

"what?" Alistravia asked

"the rest of their invasion force has begun jumping towards imperial territory, it likely won't be long before contact is made, however I believe they are reliant on this fleet capturing Khartoum and if it fails they will have no way to supply their fleets with enough gas to continue on"

"so this is the lynch pin of their operation which makes it much more vital we hold" Lavaliere said

"Then you better start hoping for that miracle" Alistravia responded

The emperors fleet

The campaign was over and the golden fleet was powering it's way towards the mandivile point. Aboard the great Golden ship the emperor was communicating with two of his sons.

" _we are assembling at Minos as per your request father but shouldn't we head straight to Khartoum?"_ The lion said as his image flickered a little

" _I agree father, the longer we delay the less chance Alistravia has"_ Fulgrim said adding his voice

"if this is a large scale invasion as first thought then we have to plan this correctly... right now we know little about what she is facing and..." the emperor started to say

An image of the fleet admiral appeared.

" _I Apologize for the interruption my Lords but we have just received word several imperial worlds have come under assault"_

" _It looks as if they plan to draw our forces away from supporting Alistravia by attacking us directly... now what?"_ the image of the lion asked

" _Alis needs supporting and I can be there in six days"_ Fulgrim stated

" _My lord, Alsatian is under attack and you are closer to assist there"_ The admiral stated

"He is right Fulgrim we must respond to the incursions first, Alistravia will have to hold... I am working on communing with her but your first duty is to protect the vulnerable worlds to the south"

" _I am aware of my duty father"_

"good... I understand you wish to assist Alistravia but you should of realized by now she is far more capable than you give her credit for"

" _Father I will take my fleet and move to reinforce some of the lighter defended worlds and will counter any incursion made but we need the rest of our brothers if we are to be victorious"_ The Lion said

"I will summon them and do my best to send what forces I can towards Alistravia but for now... she is on her own..."

Khartoum:three days remaining

Captain Issac Meta of the imperial fists and Barabas of the Iron warriors had come to her with an idea for defending the city. They had taken the time to explain it in great detail and were waiting for Alistravia's response. Kyros and Lavaliere were stood in the corner also waiting to see what she would say.

"So let me see if I have this correct... you want to collapse the city as we fall back?"

"only in old town" Issac responded "if done correctly it will not only slow them down but force them round through the manufacturing districts which are far easier to hold than old town plus the only access route is via the bridges which we can blockade and destroy if forced back there"

"It's a numbers game when you think about it" Barabas continued "we have far less warriors than them but we only have to hold out until reinforcements arrive but they have to capture the city in order to secure a forward command point to operate the supply line their trying to build"

Alistravia looked over the two warriors. Each was a master of defense and Alistravia could not imagine that they had another alternative.

"So this is what happens when the sons of the praetorian and iron lord work together... I expected you not to get along"

The two warriors looked at each other.

"We are all part of the imperium and we work together to defend it" Issac said

Alistravia nodded.

"My apologies to you both I meant no disrespect but your fathers are little more arrogant when it comes to working together" Alistravia responded

"we are not our fathers" Barabas stated

"very true... the governor will not like this plan which is why I do... can you be ready for when the enemy arrive?"

"everything is ready to go we simply needed your authorization to begin" Barabas said

"Then you have it" She said nodding to the two who filed out

Kyros walked over to his mother.

"collapsing the city may buy us some time but will it be enough"

"We could just burn the planet... like Barabas said they need it so we could just make sure they can't take it at all" lavaliere said

"that still leaves them the other two systems they captured and..."

Alistravia stopped in thought.

"mother?"

"has anyone noticed they have not scouted either system they captured and as of yet we have not seen any scouts here... they must know we are planing to stand and fight so why not send a scout to observe and see what their up against" Alistravia stated

"perhaps they are confident in their stratagem or their overwhelming numbers" Lavaliere said curiously

"Or they have scouted it and they were able to remain hidden" Kyros mused

Alistravia shook her head.

"No Barabas is right. It is truly a numbers game..."

The custodian and Kyros looked at her a little confused.

"alright let me try to explain... we have been working on the assumption that our enemy has a strategy but what if all they know is attack?" Alistravia queried

"But their strategy is to deploy a larger force even Velar confirmed that" Lavaliere said

"No she's right" Kyros said thinking about what was being said

Lavaliere looked at him with the same confused look he had give the primarch.

"Think about it Lavaliere, think about the fact all their ships jump at the same time despite some being ready to go earlier. Think about the fact that that when they jumped to the bolas system the admiral reported they went straight after the Mechanicum fleet protecting the forge world and only sent a few ships after the convoy... Mother is right... the only think they know is how to attack they have no other stratagem because they have never needed any other"

The custodian stood in thought looking at both the primarch and Kyros who were waiting for him to come to the same conclusion. It took a few minutes but it eventually clicked and he smiled.

"we can win this... it will be a bit of a meat grinder but we can win"

"I would still like some more reinforcements" Alistravia said

"We still have two more days" Kyros responded

"then we should get a workable plan into operation" Lavaliere said

Alistravia showed and evil grin.

"Get every senior officer together, it's going to be a long night"

Fifty five hours remaining

Alistravia was on her way to the assembled officers in the briefing room. This part of the government building was for the governor and her most favored associates and was decorated lavishly with portraits and massive stained glass windows. Past governors, military leaders and others decorated the walls along with family portraits and stunning images of beautiful landscapes from other worlds across the imperium and of course there was a portrait of the emperor standing tall with his sword held high. It was the same portrait she had seen hundreds of times across the loyal worlds of the imperium.

" _Fulgrim would of loved this place"_ she thought as she noticed a lone figure staring at a portrait

It was the knight commander, her mechanized war machine had been full armed and ready to fight for days so why she was here was a mystery. She was staring up at the portrait with tear filled eyes and a look of dread upon her face.

"wait here" Alistravia said to the escorting warriors of the custodians and maidens shield

As she drew closer Alistravia could see the commander had removed her dress uniform and replaced it with an armored suit. The picture she was looking at was of an old man stood next to a knight on a cliff overlooking an ocean. He was noble and gallant with short black hair and hard features yet his expression spoke of a kind gentle man.

Alistravia stood beside Ramie and looked over the painting.

"Your father?"

Ramie only responded with a nod.

"He looks like a good man"

"he was better than I ever could be" Ramie responded in a quiet voice

Alistravia looked at the man in the paintings face and then at Ramie.

"you have his eyes and definitely his stature"

"But not his resolve!" She said loudly before turning to face Alistravia who returned the gesture "I'll never achieve what he could"

Alistravia indicated the painting with her right hand.

"and what was it he achieved that you think you can not?"

Ramie pointed to a picture close by it of a ape like creature twice the size of a knight. It was beating it's chest and roaring. Down it's chest was a thick black stripe of fur .

"It's called an Umberox and they can grow to the size of a war-hound titan... most of the time they stay away from the mines and it's the little ones who attack but that one we named "black stripe" and he would attack the mines, destroy equipment and kill hundreds. At first a group of knights would simply chase it away but my father got fed up of it returning so he hunted it down and killed it... with no help"

"Impressive" Alistravia responded

"He was hailed as a hero and there is a statue of him in the main square but I will never have that, I can not kill an Umberox...the thought of it scares me half to death and now I have to fight a xenos race with no experience in such matters"

"Do you think your father wasn't afraid?" Alistravia began "fear is a tool that can be used for good or for ill"

Alistravia paused for a moment.

"My brother Konrad would tell you fear is a way to win a war without having to engage in warfare for months on end but some people think otherwise. Yet no matter what fear is a part of our lives... was your father a brave man... yes...but being brave does not mean not being scared"

"even for a primarch?" Ramie asked

Alistravia just smiled.

"You are far braver than you think Ramie and I believe your father would of felt the same"

Ramie straightened herself up and wiped her eyes.

"thank you... I won't let you... or my father... down"

Alistravia simply nodded and the knight commander walked off towards the briefing room.

Everyone had assembled either in person or via a holographic link. The only person not to have attended was governor Hokes who had been advised not to attended due to her dislike of Alistravia's choice of strategy. Alistravia came in and everyone saluted as she began to walk around the large circular table where each officer stood.

"I realize many of you were in the middle preparations and I am sorry to of pulled you away from your respective units but I believe we can win this battle but it is going to require some creative thinking... already Captains Meta and Dantioch have provided me with a solution to the problem of old town but with the new information we have there are some decisions to be made"

Captain Forin looked over to the Primarch.

"What is this new information?"

Alistravia stopped walking and nodded to Velar.

"Our enemy has likely never known defeat or fought against a species with equal technology thus their strategy of overwhelming numbers in a constant advance has not needed to change"

"forgive me my Lord" Vladimir said "but is this not what the imperial guardsman do, they attack with large numbers advance"

"You do have a point General Hokes but the imperial guard of different worlds use different stratagems just as each individual legion does, these creatures however simply know one way to win an that is attack...I believe they go after the biggest threat first hence why they only sent a few ships after the convoy at Bolas, they probably didn't expect to lose the fight let alone a ship" Velar responded

"So what is our plan?" Captain Koranic of the Word bearers said

"That is what we are hear to work out" Alistravia responded

"we could just destroy or reinforce the space port to make it more difficult for them to land" ramie said

Alistravia shook her head.

"the port is defended well and it being at the far end of the city means we can control their advance but if we force them to land else where it may cost us our advantage"

"we could use artillery to destroy their landers as they drop" The general said

"and if we use all the ammunition destroying them then we might not have it when we need it... the same goes for the air-force" The dark angel, captain Belfry responded

Alistravia was pacing round the room again as minutes past and no one spoke until Barabas who was staring at the city's district lay out snorted and then let out a noise like he was contemplating something.

"Well don't keep us in suspense Barabas whats so interesting?" Kyros questioned

"I was just thinking, if the xenos have not scouted us then we could hide the majority of our forces here" He said pointing to the largest district just before the capitol building "Then we simply fall back as if retreating and losing ground until we reach this point then we counter attack with everything we have"

"So we give them time to commit the majority of their forces then when we counter the damage will be greater" Forin responded "theoretically it could world but we should try to damage them as much as possible as we retreat"

Barabas nodded to the ultramarine.

"Exactly and we leave plenty of traps, if we demolish certain buildings we can also funnel them as our forces pull back then once we are sure they have committed a vast number of their forces we strike back with a spear thrust with the water maiden at it's tip"

Alistravia gave the iron warrior a strange look and smiled.

"so we bend our line but never break it and allow them to throw themselves at what they think is a rapidly diminishing force but in reality is barley a fraction of what we have. Then we counter in one vast assault hopefully killing enough of their ground forces to force a retreat on their side?... is that what your suggesting Barabas because if it is... I like it...your father would too"

"As do I" captain Belfry said as other captains acknowledged their approval of Barabas's plan

Alistravia held up her hand to quiet the room.

"Good then we have an agreement on an outline for a plan, now we must work on the fine details which includes the orbital ring and fleet battles"

"actually" the admiral started "Thinking along the lines of Barabas's plan I may have a way to achieve something similar but it will require a sacrifice..."

It wasn't until long after dawn broke the plan was given the final seal of approval by all attending. It was a risky plan and required some unusual thinking but it was ready.

47 hours remaining

Most of the preparations were in place and units were going over their fall back plans and the routes needed to fall back efficiently. The word bearers had been assigned to the under-halls, a section under the old town that contained the main sewers and traps had been laid so they could demolish the network of tunnels as they fell back just as Gerik and the other commanders would collapse old town as they retreated. Most forces had been assembled in what was known as the citadel district, the vast sprawling city streets that lay before the capitol building where a pair of eyes watched the preparations with disdain.

The sound of boots behind her made the governor turn along with her guardian machines. Her uncle stood without an escort in his full battle suit adorned with the symbols of the Hokes family.

"You should apologize to the primarch while you still have chance" he said bluntly

"She is destroying our world and all we fought for, her strategy may win us this fight but nothing but ruin will be left" Ariel responded

"We can rebuild Ariel" he said walking over to the edge of the balcony and indicating the city "all these buildings are just things and can be replaced but the strength of the people who came here and colonized this world, our ancestors... that can not be repaired"

"So you are buying into her lies as well!" Ariel exclaimed

The general moved over to her and leaned in close.

"You are lucky no other heard that rather traitorous remark and now I see why your father wanted me to be governor instead of you"

"My father would..."

"...be ashamed of you right now!" The general interrupted "I suggest you stay out of the primarchs way if your not going to apologize and don't do anything stupid"

"and what do you mean by that?" Ariel asked

"I know you, ever since you were a child if you didn't get your way and someone else did you would go out of your way to sabotage them"

Ariel did not respond because she knew he was right but she was also angry at his comment. The general stormed off and Ariel was left to her own thoughts.

Alistravia had been sat behind the Governors desk since the meeting. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping. Apart from the two custodians outside and the maiden shield terminators stood next to the window behind her she was alone. The passage of time for a primarch was an odd experience, when a human slept their brain would tell them when they awoke that time had passed. A human would feel it in their body as they stretched and woke themselves but for a being as enhanced as a primarch it was different in so many ways.

Alistravia was not fully unconscious and was aware of every presence and item in the room. She could hear the shallow quiet breaths of her sons as they stood sentinel. She could hear the low hum of their power packs and the vox traffic inside their helms as they listened for signs of attack.

The clock on the wall did not tick but she could hear the tiny movements of the hands as they turned. A bird on the ledge was was hopping about washing it's self in the shallow pool of water that remained after the nights rain. This was the experience her brothers would have when they shut down the parts of their brain they needed to rest. It kept them alert for attack and ready for battle.

Alistravia opened her eyes, not because something had woken her but because she had been using the rest to think on all that was being done to defend the world as well as something else she had been putting off. She had wanted to remain Alistravia the ambassador as long as possible but what she was about to do would change her role, although by her being her alone she was the lord of war, it meant nothing while she sat behind the desk and dictated orders. A true commander fights along side their soldiers.

She hit a control on the vox device in front of her and Sankara responded.

" _yes mother?"_

"it's time"

Alistravia was escorted into the grand hall by Lavaliere and Sankara. The sarcophagus was massive and had been deployed via a wormhole to this location from where it usually rested aboard the Ahab's rage. It was a tall gold and white monolith like structure with a conical top. As Alistravia approached the four custodians who guarded it moved away. Sankara and Lavaliere stayed still as Alistravia stepped closer to the sarcophagus. It reacted to her approach with a hiss of locks releasing as the systems inside detected her gene code and intent, it swung open revealing a neon white interior. On the left hand door there was a variation of guns and rifles and on the right were swords, pole arms and other melee weapons and in the center was her green and gold amour. The shark faced chest plate with the razor teeth smiled at her as she approached and stepped on to the circular plate that lay at the center of the opened sarcophagus.

As she stood her body then strangely seamed to grow and she became almost as tall as her brothers and even her muscles strengthened and expanded. Only a few ever witnessed this change and it would occur mostly when she moved from being the understanding diplomat to the war lord the emperor had built her to be. There was never an explanation given as to why or how this change occurred, perhaps it was a reaction to danger or threat by some automated response of her physiology or perhaps in some way she cloaked her true self to appear less threatening to others. The sarcophagus hummed as power coursed through it's systems and the pad bellow Alistravia`s feet lit up and she was elevated by some force into the air a few inches. The bottom dropped out and the armored boots and legs were pulled from their position on the wall and into some unknown mechanism. Within seconds the armor slid up over Alistravia's lower half and locked into place. Then came the shark faced chest plate that was pulled over her head and arms and locked to the torso piece. The arms came next as they were slid on like a water snake curling their way around prey before locking in securely. The levitation stopped and she came down to the ground with a shallow thud. Her fish faced bio helm was held out before her and she took it clamping it over her head where it was then retracted and stored inside the chest plate until needed.

Lavaliere looked to Sankara who had not watched the arming take place and was studying a data slate.

"sometimes I forget she is a primarch" He said looking at the gold and green armored giant stood on the platform "It is humbling to see her true form"

Sankara didn't look up from the slate.

"She is the same now as she was before..." he was about to continue when a vox call interrupted him. He stepped back from Lavaliere to listen.

Alistravia looked over her weapons with some joy. It was nice to see them again after so many months of patrolling and dealing with the pathetic green skins. She sheathed _"tide Splitter"_ to her waist, normally she would of passed the blade to Kyros but she wanted to keep it on her self this time even though she preferred her harpoon _"Neptune's wrath"_ that she pulled from it's place and attached magnetically to her back leaving the trident behind on this occasion.

She pulled two pistols with long barrels and three bladed prongs from the racking. They were the first weapons crafted for her and were volkite infused pistols with tremendous range and accuracy. The casing for them was built out of the conical shells found on the ocean floor of Estrella. She attached them to her suit and then lastly she drew a great rifle and slung it over her back where it clamped on next to her harpoon.

As she stepped down from the platform the sarcophagus acknowledged that the arming was complete and closed up and resealed itself once more. Sankara strode forward along with Lavaliere who was still in awe at the change.

"mother someone is attempting to make contact with us, it is weak but if channel some power through the broadcast array we might be able to bridge a connection" Sankara said

"Do we know who" Lavaliere responded

Alistravia strode off and the two followed.

"lets find out" she said as she headed towards the broadcast tower

"I've managed to obtain some kind of stable connection but it may not last long" Sankara spoke as he stood behind the arrays primary controls

Many of the psyker's who had been attached to the tables were gone, their bodies removed after they died. Alistravia had ordered them entombed and their names written down as loyal heroes to the imperium.

"I've almost got the signal locked" Sankara said as power flowed through the system "Almost... Got it!" he exclaimed as the holo emitter sparked to life

A golden image began to form and it took a few moments before it was clear enough for everyone to realize who it was trying to make contact. Alistravia and the others started to drop to one knee but the golden image of the emperor held his hand up to stop them.

" _we do not have time for formalities right now, this connection may not hold for very long... What is your status?"_

Alistravia stepped forward and spoke.

"I have just over forty million soldiers consisting of PDF, astartes and... conscripted civilians"

" _I see... conscription could not be avoided?"_

Alistravia shook her head.

"no father it could not be, without those civilians I would barley have two million warriors"

For lavaliere the way Alistravia had responded to the emperor was disrespectful, at least to him. It was difficult to understand the complex relationship the emperor had with all his children. Some were devoutly loyal like Rogal Dorn and others were blatantly defiant like Angron but Alistravia's was somewhere in the middle. She was loyal but honest when necessary.

" _the rest of the imperium has come under assault and we are repelling the invasion but the enemy has spread it's forces well and until the other legions arrive from the east we are simply holding the line thus we can not provide you with much additional support until we have pushed back the xenos"_

"Sire this attack here is an attempt to secure a supply line so it is vital we hold, we have a plan but more support would be useful" Lavaliere stated

" _Horus dispatched a battle group... it has not arrived yet?"_ The emperor asked

"no father it has not, how many ships did he send?" Alistravia responded

" _one hundred commanded by his first captain but they had a vast distance to cross considering they were far east when they received your relayed signal"_

"Captain Abbadon would be a welcome reinforcement and give us more chance to win this fight"

The image of the emperor looked to Lavaliere and then Sankara.

" _equerry, Lavaliere, give me a moment with Alistravia if you please"_ He said

The two bowed and left the room shutting the large doors behind them.

"what is it father?, we don't really have time for a heart to heart" Alistravia said moving closer to the image

" _do not be foolish, if things become unmanageable you are to pull back and regroup at Minos"_

"We cannot afford to lose this sector father"

" _true, but I will not sacrifice a whole legion and it's primarch if victory is unobtainable"_

Alistravia narrowed her eyes and tilted her head with curiosity.

"It's primarch? How very detached of you father to see me as a thing rather than a human life"

The emperor appeared uncomfortable at this shot back from Alistravia and he shifted his position as he thought of his response.

" _We are at war, I do not have time to..."_ The emperor stopped and thought before continuing _"I do not wish you to die Alistravia because you are important to this imperium's future so should the situation become unmanageable you will follow my orders and retreat back to Minos"_

Alistravia thought for a moment, she wanted to ask him if she was important to him not just his empire. She was not stupid though and to challenge him further would invite an argument if not some reprimand for her attitude.

"I understand father, if no relief arrives after a few days I will pull out and go to Minos"

" _good, I have no doubt that once one of your brothers finishes dealing with one of the incursions they will come straight to you to assist. I will try to make contact again soon"_ The emperor said and his image faded

Alistravia left the room to a waiting Sankara and lavaliere who appeared to have news.

"I asked the admiral to try scanning for incoming warp signatures, it looks as if captain Abbadon's reinforcements are a few hours away" Sankara said

"That leaves us just over a day to Finnish preparations, what did the emperor say?" Lavaliere asked

"If victory can not be assured we are to pull back to Minos and regroup" Alistravia responded

"That cold be difficult, we have no way to lift all our forces off the planet" Lavaliere stated

"we do" Sankara said "we can open a wormhole and evacuate to the Ahab's rage"

"the fleet couldn't carry everyone, some would have to be left behind" Lavaliere stated

"then you better hope we don't have to evacuate" Alistravia responded

The Luna wolves fleet turned up shortly after night had fallen, a battle barge and several battle ships along with support vessels and transports exited the warp close to Khartoum. Horus's first captain made his way straight down to the surface and into the grand entrance hall where Alistravia and the senior commanders waited.

As always Abbadon strode in with his typical mix of nobility and casual body language. His gun metal green terminator armor looking almost black in the dull light of the hall. He was accompanied by two other warriors. The one on the right was recognizable straight away as little Horus Aximand simply because of how much he looked like his father from his facial features right down to the way he walked. The second son of Horus Alistravia had seen before but never met face to face, the markings on his armor showed he was of the tenth and the studs in his brow marked his rank as captain. Like Abbadon their armor was a dull green with the eye of Horus at the center of their chest piece.

The three stopped and bowed to Alistravia.

"Welcome sons of Horus to Khartoum"

"My father apologizes he can not be here in person my lady but the main fleet was given another task by the emperor" Abbadon responded

"I am sure the task he was given was most urgent but I am pleased he could spare you and your brothers to assist" Alistravia said looking over the Luna wolves

Abbadon nodded and indicated little Horus.

"I am sure you remember Captain Aximand"

"my lady" Little Horus said bowing

"Of course, it's a pleasure to see you again Captain" Alistravia said as she responded to the bow with a nod

"and this" he said indicating the young captain beside him "is Gavriel Loken of the tenth, he is some what of a rising star"

"it is a pleasure captain" Alistravia said as Loken bowed again "well now that the formalities are out of the way let me just say how pleased I am to see you again Ezekiel, its been too long"

"I agree and I look forward to fighting alongside Kyros once more" He responded smiling at Kyros who grinned back

"I am afraid we don't have time for a catch up cousin as we have less than a day to be ready"

Abbadon looked back over to Alistravia.

"we are at your disposal"

"You don't exactly have a choice" Lavaliere said with some derision

Alistravia rounded on him immediately.

"I have warned you about picking fights custodian, you will not make any allies acting as you do. Talk down to another again as you have been and I will replace you with Abbadon's 1st company terminators, at least they know to stay silent"

Lavaliere wanted to say something, Alistravia could see it in his eyes but after a moment he gave a nod and backed away. Alistravia turned to Kyros.

"Go over the plans with Abbadon and see how we can best use the tenth and first company's"

"what about the fifth?" Little Horus asked

"Admiral Markov had an idea on how to use your ships to out flank our enemy, perhaps we could also board them... she will brief you in orbit captain" Alistravia responded

26 Hours remaining

"Gavriel Loken" he said shaking Gerik's hand as Luna wolves filed out of a rhino

"I wasn't expecting any more reinforcements, has mother changed her mind about falling back?" Gerik questioned as both he and Loken released their grip

"No but your primarch feels this is where the enemy will concentrate the hardest so we are to give them a bloody nose before falling back to keep in line with the overall stratagem" Loken responded

Carin had wondered over followed by his escort of custodians.

"well met captain" he said shaking Loken's hand as Gerik had "is my uncle here too?"

Loken shook his head.

"I am afraid my father was required elsewhere but I am sure once the rest of the imperium is made safe he will come as quickly as he can"

"we should pull some of the civilian fighters away from the front and replace them with your brothers" Gerik said

"A good idea cousin as I doubt these people can shoot as well as us and the line is likely to hold longer"

"Mother promised them they could defend their world" Carin stated

"and they will" Gerik said turning to him "but we as space marines are supposed to protect them so they don't have to fight and they can assist us by ferrying ammunition to the squads"

"Don't worry little cousin" Loken said putting his hand on Carin's shoulder guard "these people will get an opportunity to fight"

18 Hours remaining

The fleet was organized in to different battle groups. The Corvette squadrons had hidden themselves along with the Luna wolves fleet away from the planet by extending their light bending shields to obscure their out flanking position. They wouldn't be detected, at least not straight away. The Xenos would come at the imperial fleet head on and try to force a gap to in imperial lines to land troops and of course that would be allowed to happen because the xenos had to believe the imperium were out gunned and out manned which of course they were but they had to be made to believe they were winning, at least at first.

Admiral Markov had come over to the Ahab's rage for one last meeting with admiral marten.

"So we keep the "Ahab's rage" and the "Berzelius" here" Admiral Marten said pointing to an area close to the orbital ring.

Admiral Markov nodded and some of her gray hair fell forward, she swept it back behind her ears. The rest of her hair was a mix of fading black to silver, the raven haired girl who had signed up to be a pilot had be done away with over ninety years ago. Since then she had learned and done so much, it was only by chance during a battle with the green-skins when the captain and the rest of the senior officers of the ship she was serving on had been killed by a torpedo she had stood up and taken control. Some attributed the victory on that day to her rallying the imperial fleet although in truth it was the arrival of the imperial fists and their primarch that turned the battle around but the admiralty saw her potential and made her a captain, from that point on the only way was up.

"makes sense" she responded "once we give the xenos their opening we should emit false signals like we are panicking..."

"I like that, we should also shift some of the battle groups across the area like we are desperately trying to close the gap" admiral Marten responded

"once their committed to a push to widen the gap then we can start phase two, if that goes well enough we might not have to follow up with phase three" Admiral Markov said examining the hololith pictures of the fleets deployment

"but it's been my experience that in void battles things parley go the way you want them to but no reason not to hope"

2 Hours remaining

Alistravia had taken her self and the custodians to the main hospital. Kyros was currently with General Hokes in the main command center but when the battle started he would step out to fight. The command center was located next to the main airfield a fair distance away from the primary hospital, it had been decided that the vendettas and other aircraft would be secured in the hangers that extended under the mountains and only a few would be used initially to make the xenos think they did not have large air support.

Alistravia had vox traffic from all squads running through her helm. To most it would sound like a confusing mess but to a primarch it was a song that repeated it's self in every battle. With it should could hear how every unit was doing and where the xenos would be hitting hardest.

Lavaliere had been quiet for a long time since her threat to him back at the meeting with Abbadon, not that she cared for any conversation with him right now, she needed focus and to be ready. The chronometer in her helm counted down slowly as it crept up to one hour remaining...

Ahab's rage

Admiral Markov had departed and was now aboard her battle cruiser, admiral Marten was walking the deck of the bridge whilst every so often glancing at the chronometer. The waiting was hard especially when defending, attacking was different as you could choose what time to begin your assault and your enemy was the one waiting. After about ten minutes the admiral sighed and took his place on the command throne. It had been designed for Alistravia but he could use it well enough despite being much shorter than her. He was just about to review the tactical plans one last time when it happened.

"Admiral!" came a shout from the sensorium officer

Then like flies racing to swarm over feces they came, first the smaller vessels shot in like tiny egg shaped darts then came the medium sized vessels and finally their largest ships. All in total there was just under three thousand vessels, the admiral postulated they must of lost a few against the Mechanicum fleet but he didn't have time to think about how much a difference a few destroyed ships would make to the fight and he sprung up off his feet.

"All ships battle stations and get me the primarch!"

It only took a second for Alistravia to respond

" _yes Admiral?"_

Multiple ideas of to respond went through his head but eventually he settled on something simple.

"My Lady...Their here"

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
